Prisons of the Past
by Magus1108
Summary: Deep within a long forgotten castle, a rogue agent, affiliated with neither despair nor hope, toils to see a twisted ideology become reality. To fulfill their needs, 32 survivors of Killing Games have been kidnapped and brought together. Their goal: survive a new Killing Game, or die trying. (SYOC Closed; Legacy of Hope Spinoff)
1. Teaser and Cast List

Prologue:

_What does it mean to truly move on? Is such a thing possible?_

_Can the past truly be killed, or forgotten? Or will it haunt you for the rest of your days, define the entirety of your life?_

_Some people leave their pasts behind, and forge a new future for themselves entirely. Others are completely bound to it, unable to escape the sins of their forefathers. _

_Our past is our history, and continues to define us, no matter how much we may run from it. There is no escaping the march of history: or so most people think. But what if there was a way to wipe the slate clean? To burn the sins of the past, and truly forge a bright and better tomorrow?_

_Deep within an abandoned science research station a rogue element, affiliated with neither despair nor hope, toils to see this vision become a reality. They will stop at nothing to purge the past, and create a world free of sin and suffering. No matter how many have to die, they will stop at nothing to attain their goal. _

_But an experiment must be conducted first. For if their theory is truly possible, it needs to be tested out in reality. And so sixteen individuals, all survivors of past Killing Games, have been gathered together to test this thesis:_

_Can people free themselves from the prisons of their past? Or is the world fated to repeat this endless waltz of mistakes and suffering until the heat death of the universe?_

_Time will tell..._

* * *

**Announcement:**

**Hello, and welcome everyone, to Prisons of the Past, a SYOC in the Legacy of Despair universe first created by Crit Fail! Yes indeed, this is another spin-off to the wonderful LoD franchise! I love this community and these fanfics so much, I figured I may as well join the bandwagon and make my own spinoff, while at the same time putting my own unique spin on things. **

**So! First thing's first. There is a special hook to this spinoff: all OCs will be survivors of past Killing Games! Now, to be clear, you can make an OC that was a survivor of an off-screen KG, one largely unconnected to the wider LoD narrative. **

**However, if you are the creator of a survivor of SOT, KKL, and soon enough HoH, then you're welcome to submit your survivor to Prisons if you so like! I won't stop ya! However, do be warned, there is no guarantee that they'll survive a second Killing Game! So submit at your own discretion! **

**Also, I will be open to accepting more than one character per creator. However, there will be a max limit of two characters per creators. You can submit more than 2, but I will only accept the best two. **

**Submissions are open now until August 15th, 2019, though the cut-off date may shorten depending on circumstances. The projected start date of Prisons will also be Fall 2019/Winter 2020, just so everyone knows! So it'll likely be a good couple months before this thing kicks into gear. **

**I'll also be updating this here list with the cast as submissions come in and characters are accepted. Now, onto the cast!**

* * *

**CAST OF ACCEPTED CHARACTERS: **

**1: Yumei Mao (Ultimate Shaolin Monk; Creator: Magus1108)**

**2\. Dios (Ultimate Dungeon Master; Creator: PettyPunk)**

**3: Kotomi Sanada (Ace Funeral Cosmetologist; Creator: CelestialSkyDragon)**

**4: Rafael Velasco (Ultimate Revolutionary; Creator: Superguy559)**

**5: George Willoughby (Elite Medical Doctor; Creator: Iron-Doughnut)**

**6: Luminisa "Lumi" Lupei (Professional Erotic Novelist; Creator: Trust Me)**

****7:****** Takehiko Kioi (Ultimate Karateka; Creator: LckiKoin)**

****8: Nora Kelly (******Epitome Beekeeper; Creator: scarytito21)**

**9: Asan Sangkroh (Ultimate EMT; Creator: TheBlueCzar)**

**10: Aika Usami (Ultimate Shepherdess; Creator: Prince PokePersona)**

**11: Kagome Ito (Paramount Fast Food Manager; Creator: Iron-Doughnut)**

**12: Kalisto 'Kai' Ribeiro (Divine Adventurer; Creator: Abitat Eco)**

**13: Fuka Tanaka (Perfect Virologist; Creator: JCW18)**

**14: Zetico Menghini (Professional Agent; Creator: 1Glimmershine)**

**15: ****Beatrix 'Trixie' Briedis (Star Webcam Model; Creator: Trust Me)**

****16: ******Dayaveer Atal (Ace Assistant; Creator: pokemansuperallstar)****  
**

**17: ******Hapi Neureal (Divine Archangel; Creator: life among the dead)  
****

****18: Tina Beaufort (Star Sniper; Creator: StoryProducer214)****

****19: Kogo Rukki (Paramount Charm; Creator: PettyPunk)****

****20: Auryon Mercelina (Ultimate Slayer; Creator: Kobold Necromancer)****

****21: Kaizoku Dokuro (Ultimate Sailor; Creator: PettyPunk)****

****22: Amar Manas (Advanced Therapist; Creator: RazTheGiant) ****

****23: Jacqueline "Jackie" McBride (Ultimate Cowgirl; Creator: Crit Fail)****

****24: Kaiten Kakegoto (Pyrrhic High Roller; Creator: LckiKoin)****

****25: Takeji Kano (Ultimate Survivalist; Creator: Prince PokePersona)****

****26: Daniela Gomez (Gifted Spy; Creator: TJMike)****

****27: Nana (Best Veterinarian; Creator: Alto)****

****28: Kotaro Kanaka (Former Elite Maestro; Creator: Alto)****

****29: Naoki Watanabe (Ultimate Archer; Creator: Magus1108)****

****30: Natalya Chemovsky (Supreme Elementary Level Nuclear Physicist; Creator: CelestialSkyDragon)****

****31: Roberta Williams (Ultimate Occult Expert; Creator: Yuuki Itsuka)****

* * *

****SUBMITTED CHARACTERS LIST:****

****1: Yumei Mao (Ultimate Shaolin Monk; Creator: Magus1108)****

****2: Dios (Ultimate Dungeon Master; Creator: PettyPunk)****

****3: Takehiko Kioi (Ultimate Karateka; Creator: LckiKoin)****

****4: Haruki Kinoshita (SHSL Pediatrician; Creator: StoryProducer214)****

****5: Amon Yuda (Ace Underwater Criminal Investigator; Creator: runicwolf)****

****6: Theo Urion (Perfect Cliodynamicist; Creator: JCW18)****

****7: Hibiki Hirose (Ultimate Police Officer; Creator: richboylion)****

****8: Kassandra Nikos (Ultimate Escape Artist; Creator: dashunterman)****

****9: Kotomi Sanada (Ace Funeral Cosmetologist; Creator: CelestialSkyDragon)****

****10: Rafael Velasco (Ultimate Revolutionary; Creator: Superguy559)****

****11: Hapi Neureal (Divine Archangel; Creator: life among the dead)****

****12: George Willoughby (Elite Medical Doctor; Creator: Iron-Doughnut)****

****13: Luminisa 'Lumi' Lupei (Professional Erotic Novelist; Creator: Trust Me)****

**14: Gerben Lindt (Pyrrhic Animatronics Technician; Creator: runicwolf)**

****15: Luna Amamiya (Ultimate J-Pop Star; Creator: gamergirl101)****

****16: ******SPOILER (Ultimate SPOILER; Creator: SPOILER)**

**17: Nadeshiko Yamijou (Mythical Yokai Expert; Creator: dashunterman)**

**18: Jared Winchester (SHSL Necromancer; Creator: 71526483)**

**19: Akira Asano (Master Strategist; Creator: StoryProducer214)**

**20: Nora Kelly (Epitome Beekeeper; Creator: scarytito21)**

**21: Kagome Ito (Paramount Fast Food Manager; Creator: Iron-Doughnut)**

**22: Saki Maizono (Paramount Movie Star; Creator: Crit Fail)**

**23: Hiroki Akamatsu (Paramount Manager; Creator: Crit Fail)**

**24: Aika Usami (Ultimate Shepherdess; Creator: Prince PokePersona)**

**25: Gensou Reginald (Ultimate Illusionist; Creator: Yuuki Itsuka)**

**26: Kalisto 'Kai' Ribeiro (Divine Survivalist; Creator: Abitat Eco)**

**27: Amar Manas (Advanced Therapist; Creator: RazTheGiant)**

**28: Zetico Menghini (Professional Agent; Creator: 1Glimmershine)**

**29: Daniela Gomez (Gifted Spy; Creator: TJMike)**

**30: Fuka Tanaka (Perfect Virologist; Creator: JCW18)**

**31: Beatrix 'Trixie' Briedis (Star Webcam Model; Creator: Trust Me)**

**32: Charles McParland (SHSL Detective; Creator: NSPunny)**

**33: Dayaveer Atal (Ace Assistant; Creator: pokemansuperallstar)**

**34: Rikiya Takizawa (Super Inmate Level Surgeon; Creator: WoopaKoopaTroopa)**

**35: ****SPOILER (Ultimate SPOILER; Creator: SPOILER)**

**36: Themis (Ultimate Vigilante; Creator: Sims Fan214)**

**37: Kaizoku Dokuro (Ultimate Sailor; Creator: Pettpunk)**

**38: Fernand Soyer (Ultimate Motivational Speaker; Creator: MudkipOfDespair)**

**39: Hakan Uzun (Prodigious Archaeologist; Creator: Birbddha)**

**40: Auryon Mercelina (Ultimate Slayer; Creator: Kobold Necromancer)**

**41: Takeji Kano (Ultimate Survivalist; Creator: Prince PokePersona)**

**42: Kaiten Kakegoto (Pyrrhic High Roller; Creator: LckiKoin)**

**43: Nana (Best Veterinarian; Creator: Alto)**

* * *

****CHARACTER PROFILE:****

****(BASICS) (Pretty self explanatory. I'm open to whatever though. I don't want to put anymore restrictions, on what you envision for your character)****

****Full Name:****

****Gender:****

****Age:****

****Birthday:****

****Nationality:****

****Talent:****

****Sexuality:****

****Blood Type:****

****(Appearance)****

****Hair Color****

****Hair Style/Length:****

****Eye Color:****

****Skin Tone:****

****Body Type:****

****Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks:****

****Height:****

****Weight:****

****Normal Clothing:****

****Exercise Clothing:****

****Sleepwear:****

****Accessories:****

****(Personal Information)****

****Personality:****

****Character Traits:****

****Greatest Fears:****

****Hobbies:****

****Likes:****

****Dislikes:****

****Strengths:****

****Weaknesses:****

****Friendships/Enemies: (What sort of people would your character be able to befriend and get along with, and conversely who would they have trouble getting with or loathe?)****

****Romance: (Are you alright seeing your character fall in love? If so I just need to know and what would compel them?)****

****History: (You can make this a paragraph or a page long. I just need enough to know how your character became the person they are. What shaped them? What drives them?)****

****People of note: (Does your character have any important friends and or family outside of the killing game? Or just important characters in their life?)****

****Secrets: (I need this from EVERYONE. There needs to be that one skeleton in your closet, that you'd lament getting out.)****

****How you survived your First Killing Game: (This needs to be elaborated on in some detail. Were they an endgame survivor? Did they become the Blackened and escape, at the cost of dooming their comrades? Or did they survive their Killing Game through less conventional means?)****

****Reason why your character could kill: (Not everyone will have a straightforward reason. Just give me something to work with. Is there some secret? Some person in their lives that could be used to motivate them? Are they impulsive or**** ****hot-headed? Giving me an answer doesn't mean your character will be a blackened, but it does give me more to work with character-wise.****

****Preferred role in the Game: (Protagonist, Victim, Survivor, Mastermind, or something else entirely?)****

****Reaction to the Killing Game: (Self-explanatory, but give me a general sense or even some sample dialogue of how they would handle this)****

****Reaction to discovering a body: (Self-exiplanatory, but give me a general sense or even some sample dialogue of how they would handle this)****

****Reaction to being accused as the blackened: (Self-explanatory,**** ****but give me a general sense or even some sample dialogue of how they would handle this)****

****FTE: (If you have any ideas for your character to explore in free time with someone, please share them with me. It can be something simple or very serious and complex. The more the merrier)****

****Quotes: (I'd like to see a bare minimum of 3-4 quotes from all applicants. It serves to help me know how the character speaks.)****

****Introduction: (How would they first introduce themselves to someone else?)****

****Mannerisms: (List if applicable)****

****Execution Ideas: (Optional)****

****MISC: (Anything else you wish to share.)****

* * *

**_Accepted Character Profiles_**

1\. Yumei Mao

Creator: Magus1108

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Nationality: Chinese

Talent: Ultimate Shaolin Monk

Blood Type: O-

(Appearance)

Hair Color Style/Length: Yumei has medium-length hair that travels down to the middle of her back, roughly. The middle of the back of her hair is tied up in a simple braid, while the rest of her hair hangs out naturally. Furthermore, her bangs are parted down the middle, with each side extending down to just above her eyes.

Skin Tone: An almost sickly white, due to her Albinism

Body Type: Yumei is not as muscular and strong as she used to be. Due to her pregnancy, she's gotten wider, and lost some muscle mass, particularly around her stomach and chest. And has her pregnancy has advanced, in turn causing her stomach to grow bigger and gain more weight, her mobility and ability to use the strength she does still possess has been hampered. Still, Yumei is quite strong and buff for a pregnant woman, and could defend herself if need be.

Scars, Tattoos, or Birthmarks: Yumei was born with Albinism at birth, leaving her eyes red, and her skin and hair pale white. Yumei also has an eyepatch over her left eye, covering up a nasty scar where her left eye used to be.

Height: 5'4

Weight: 173

Normal Clothing: Yumei wears a somewhat dark blue maternity gown/robe that she can adjust to fit her body as she's grown further along in her pregnancy. Over the top half of her robe, she wearrs a dark red shawl that covers her shoulders and upper back, and is tied around her chest, ending just above her stomach. Yumei also wears a black eyepatch over her left eye, and an orange bandanna-Tonbe Woch's bandanna in fact-is tied around her neck. Yumei also wears a series of white bandage wrappings over her hands, feet, groin, and breasts in lieu of proper underwear or protective wear. Finally, she wears a pair of brown wooden sandals over her feet.

Sleepwear: Yumei varies between sleeping in the nude, and sleeping in a long t-shirt that once belonged to Tonbe Woch. The shirt itself tends to cover her body up to her calves, though as her pregnancy has grown, it now only reaches down to her knees. Yumei also wears a simple pair of short-shorts beneath the shirt, though she doesn't always wear the two together: typically she sleeps in the shirt when she wants to feel comforted, or wears both the shirt and the shorts when sleeping in the company of people with more conservative values.

Accessories: Yumei has a journal she writes in everyday, to chronicle her life and experiences. Once she fills out a journal, she stows it away for safe keeping: since she started writing them at eight, she's filled up twelve such books. Yumei also has some medication she's been prescribed to help her through her pregnancy, particularly for her back pain and occasional nausea. She has a smart-phone too, a newer model that she keeps on her at all times. Adding on to that, she has a framed photo that she keeps with her, and considers it to be her second most prized possession: a framed photograph of herself and the other survivors of the Railway Killing Game, taken when they last met together in June of 2021. Finally, Yumei has a dark purple satchel she keeps on her person, that she uses to carry her journal, pen, medication, phone, and photo in.

* * *

2\. Dios

Creator: PettyPunk

Gender: Unknown

Age: 19

Birthday: July 27

Nationality: Unknown

Talent: Dungeon Master

Blood Type: B-

(Appearance)

Hair Color/Style/Length: Unknown

Eye Color: Unknown

Skin Tone: Unknown

Body Type: Lithe, androgynous and underweight

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: Unknown

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 120 pounds

Normal Clothing: A Black velvet jacket that has a black wool hood, the hood is always worn up. The jacket is covered in the same neon accents as the mask. There is silver metal attached to the shoulders area giving the appearance of pauldrons. There is a velvet stylized painting of a Tarasque taking up the entire back. The message "G. G. 1938 - 2008" is stenciled in white above the Tarasque. Going down the front of the jacket on the left side has white silhouettes of 6 dice. They are a four-sided, six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve-sided and a twenty-sided die. The jacket is worn open and a silk black t-shirt that is covered in neon pink blood splatters. Black tight leather pants with a studded metal belt. Black kneehigh boots with neon accents.

Accessories: A black skull dia de los muertos mask, with neon blue, green, yellow, orange and red dots, and stripes in various accented patterns. There is also solid black lens. Black forearm length velvet gloves that have a silvery metal over the knuckles and on the fingertips. And the same neon accents as the mask. A black silk scarf that covers where the shirt and mask meet.

* * *

3\. Kotomi Sanada

Creator: CelestialSkyDragon

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Date of Birth: June 20th

Home country: Japan (Akihabara)

School: Skyline Academy

Talent: Ace Funeral Cosmetologist

Blood Type: A

Appearance: Kotomi is a short young woman, standing at around five feet two inches in height. She has long flowing black hair, tied into a high ponytail, with wispy ends. She has pale colored skin and soft blue eyes, covered slightly by her bangs. She wears a violet, Gothic outfit, and has a pair of matching violet headphones around her neck.

Hair color/style: Raven Black, styled in a high ponytail with wispy ends. She has two thin strands of hair that frame her face, and are slightly curled.

Eye Color: Soft blue

Skin Tone: Pale

Body Type: Petite

Birthmarks, scars or tattoos: She has a slash scar down her forearm from being attacked with a knife.

Height: 5 feet 2 inches

Weight: 112 LBS

Outfits:

Kotomi's main outfit consists of a Gothic Lolita style dress. It is a sleeveless, strapless dress, that hugs her curves nicely. The dress has white frills around the waist and the hem. She wears a matching bolero jacket, in the same silky royal purple color, with short sleeves. Her long black hair was tied into a single side ponytail that fell down past her mid back, part of it was braided at the side of her head. She was wearing a pair of black boots, with dark laces. Her boots have violet butterfly wings attached to the sides. As stated above, she has a pair of violet headphones hanging around her neck.

Jewelry/Accessories:

Kotomi has a necklace around her neck in the shape of a butterfly. It is violet and pin in color, and is normally hidden by her dress.

Kotomi owns a pair of royal purple headphones, emblazoned with a butterfly pattern on the speakers. It has a dark violet auxiliary cord that runs from the left side down to her phone, which is in her pocket. Though she's since removed the aux cord as she ended up breaking her phone during her killing game. She still has it, but for now she wears them for fashion rather than for use.

* * *

4\. Rafael Velasco

Creator: Superguy559

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Birthday: June 14

Nationality: Cuzcoian (Cuzco is a made up country located in-between Peru, Bolivia and Chile.)

Talent: Ultimate Revolutionary

Blood Type: A

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Light brown

Hair Style/Length: Shoulder length hair, though when he is working/on guard he tends to tie it back as a pony tail. On his face he has short, rugged stubble.

Eye Color: Green

Skin Tone: Lightly tanned

Body Type: Fit and slightly muscular

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: Numerous scars on his back from lashings

Height: 6'1

Weight: 160 lbs

Normal Clothing: A light olive green Cuzcoian army combat uniform (shirt and waterproof pants) which black army boots. On the right sleve of the shirt is a sown in fabric depiction of the Cuzcoian flag. A black Beret with a metal red star pin rests on his head.

Exercise Clothing: He would work out in his normal clothing.

Sleepwear: His white underpants.

Accessories: He has a brown belt around his waist that holds a pistol with three extra clips, a machete, a water canister, a compass, and a Swiss army knife.

* * *

5\. George Willoughby

Creator: Iron-Doughnut

Gender: Male

Age: 21

Birthday: 2nd August

Nationality: English

Talent: Elite Medical Doctor

(APPEARANCE)

Hair Colour: Black

Hair Style/Length: Well-groomed and kept, with a parting to the left. Under normal circumstance, there is never a hair out of place. Willoughby wears no facial hair, and always take steps to remain neatly clean shaven.

Eye Colour: Light blue

Skin Tone: Pale

Body Type: Willoughby is of average height, around 179 cm tall (5.87 ft) tall. He has the Ectomorph body type. He has a runner's build. He is fit, healthy and takes good care of himself, but not strong, crafted or built. His shoulders are to the narrow side, and his limbs have always seemed a little too long for his average height. Despite this, his hands are strong, sure and gentle, and his feet evenly planted.

Willoughby's facial features are strong. He has a prominent nose, sturdy jaw and thick brows.

Scars, Tattoo's or Birthmarks: George has tiny scars on his hands from his time learning to use scalpels properly, but nothing obvious or serious. Willoughby has a small scar across his right eyebrow, dividing it in two. He got it from a fight in school.

Height: 179 cm tall (5.87 ft)

Weight: 66 kg (145.51 ft)

Normal Clothing: A simple white collard button up shirt and earthy, brown trousers. The trousers are long and kept up by a simple black leather belt. Willoughby regularly complains of cold feet, and away wears white, woolly socks. When cold, Willoughby will don a homemade dark blue wool sweater, and/or a tan trench coat. His cold weather wardrobe is finished with a tartan grey flat cap.

Exercise Clothing: Simple, long grey sweatpants and any available t-shirt. Often the same ones he wars s nightclothes

Sleepwear: Willoughby sleeps in chequered boxers, white socks and any available t-shirt. When it is hot, he gets rid of the shirt, but he always keeps the socks.

Accessories: Willoughby is very particular about keeping his leather wallet with him. It was a gift from his sister and is very precious to him. Furthermore, George is far sighted, and he carries a pair of simple, slim frame reading glasses. He only dons them when he needs to read, otherwise, they are kept safely in the breast pocket of his shirt.

* * *

6\. Luminisa "Lumi" Lupei

Creator: Trust Me

Translation: Luminisa (little light), Lupei (wolf)

Gender: Female

Age: 21

Birthday: February 24th

Nationality: Romanian

Talent: Professional Erotic Novelist

Blood Type: AB-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Soft Peach

Hair Style/Length: She has neck length hair that curls inwards, framing her face, and tidy bangs that are swept to her right.

Eye Color: Caramel

Skin Tone: As white and soft as freshly fallen snow.

Body Type: Lumi is a lot like a birch tree; she's extraordinarily tall and slender. Her limbs are long—especially her legs—and very frail, lacking any notable musculature. She has a delicate neck, slight shoulders, a thin waist, a modest bust (around a B-cup), and elegant fingers like those of a pianist.

Scars, Tattoos, or Birthmarks: None, unless we're also counting the piercings on her tongue, ears, and wrists. At one point in the very distant past, she considered getting a tattoo of a unicorn on her shoulder, but after a period of consideration, she (smartly) decided against it.

Height: 6'9" (206 cm)

Weight: 155 lbs (70 kg)

Normal Clothing:

Her stylish (and quirky) outfit consists of a charcoal-coloured, short-sleeved blouse with white bows at the front, a matching mid-thigh length skirt, similarly coloured cotton stockings with a unicorn-and-rainbow print, and mid-calf boots.

Exercise Clothing:

Lumi's swimwear would consist of a charcoal grey bikini top with white frills and an ankle length sarong wrapped around her waist.

Sleepwear:

Lumi has two sets of sleepwear for differing occasions. Her "normal" sleepwear is a tacky set of white, full body pajamas designed to look like a unicorn. Her other set of sleepwear is lingerie that is only worn for "special nights". It consists of a sultry negligee made from intricate black lace and matching garter belt stockings.

Accessories:

Lumi wears a floppy, comically oversized, and charcoal grey witch hat that bears a passing resemblance to the wizard hat that Adohira used to wear (which is purely coincidental). Around her neck is a snow white scarf. Her tongue is piercedwith a silver barbell piercing. Most strikingly, Lumi also has "black ribbon corset piercings" along her inner wrists (that look very painful). And despite having pierced ears, she currently isn't wearing any earrings.

Slung over her left shoulder is a vintage leather messenger bag. Insider her bag, she has a black notebook decorated with unicorn stickers, various writing utensils (including a full set of glitter gel pens), the usual toiletries, a rudimentary kit of cosmetics, and a glass vial of cinnamon-scented perfume.

* * *

7\. Takehiko Kioi

Creator: LckiKoin

Gender: Male

Age: 22

Birthday: July 27

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Karateka

Blood Type: A-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Hair Style/Length: Back-length hair tied to a wild (though not as messy as the one he had during the Bunker Killing Game) high ponytail. Also has pointed sideburns and wing-like strands on top of his ears. In addition, he now has a slight stubble on his chin.

Eye Color: Sunset Orange

Skin Tone: Tanned

Body Type: extremely muscular.

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: His arms and torso has several scars he gained during several matches, including one large cross shaped scar on his chest. Despite the amount of scars that he has, his face is relatively untouched, well, aside from the small cut that he has on his left eyebrow. The various injuries that he had gained from the Bunker Killing Game (most notably the one he had on his right leg) were all healed up, leaving behind some scars.

Height: 201 cm / 6'7 ft.

Weight: 120 kg / 264 lbs.

Normal Clothing: Takehiko now wears his scarlet red kimono properly, albeit rather loosely, and swaps his baggy jeans with a black hakama that has red and white outlines of numerous peony flowers on it, plus a gold outline of a tiger. He still wears his red footpads and his old shiny black varsity jacket, though it's now worn like that of a cape, as the parts of it is so torn up, it doesn't look like a proper clothing anymore.

Exercise Clothing: a scarlet red Karate Gi with a black belt. The sleeves for the gi are torn off, exposing his scarred muscular arms. The back of it has the word "最強 (Saikyo, meaning strongest)" on top of a tiger's head. The bottom of the tiger's head also had "ICHIBAN SAIKYO DOJO" written underneath, both words being written in gold. He also wears the black footpads that he usually uses and his arms are wrapped with bandage wraps.

Sleepwear: nothing but a pair of simple black briefs with an orange tiger emblem embroidered on it.

Accessories: red hair band to tie his ponytail.

* * *

8\. Nora Kelly

Creator: scarytito21

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Date of Birth: May 29th

Ethnicity/Nationality: British

Talent: Epitome Beekeeper

Blood Type: AB-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Honey Blonde

Hair Style/Length: Wavy towards the end which touches her shoulders

Eye Color: Brown

Skin Tone: Pale white

Body Type: Slightly curvy, overall in decent shape

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: A small bee tattoo on her left hand. She has freckles on her cheeks.

Height: 5'4

Weight: 125

Normal Clothing: Yellow sundress with short sleeves that reach her knees and she wears black leggings. The back is a bit exposed on the top so you can see part of her tattoo. She has a tan beekeepers hat that is off and around her neck, with the mesh part rolled up and hidden. She wears black flats as well.

Exercise Clothing: Black crop top and yellow yoga pants with black and yellow sneakers with stripes

Sleepwear: White flannel pajama bottoms and a black t shirt with a bunch of bees on them.

Accessories: A golden lucky charm bracelet. It has a honey pot, a soccer ball, an ocean wave, and a tree.

* * *

9: Asan Sangkroh

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Birthday: April 7th (World Health Day)

Nationality: Cambodian

Talent: EMT (Emergency Medical Technician)

Blood Type: O+

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Black, tips of his hair and the longest strand are dyed neon blue

Hair Style/Length: Relatively short reaching his ears, mostly swept back but with a longer strand 'ahoge' falling down to the middle of his face.

Eye Color: Emerald green

Skin Tone: Semi darkened tan

Body Type: Wiry, more muscular limbs and slim torso

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: A heart tattoo on his left forearm and a red cross tattoo in the same position on the right. Several small cuts and burn scars along his palms and all along his fingers. A slash scar that starts on his left cheeks runs over his nose and ends at his right brow.

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 153 lbs

Normal Clothing: A lightweight white sleeveless running shirt that has a red cross decal over the chest. Dark blue cargo shorts. White socks with silver and red running shoes.

Sleepwear: In the buff

Accessories: A black and neon green running backpack, a belt satchel on both hips all filled with medical equipment and supplies for treating all manner of injuries.

* * *

10: Aika Usami

Creator: Prince PokePersona

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Birthday: November 5th

Nationality: Japanese

Religious beliefs: Catholic (however she's not super religious herself)

Talent: Shepherdess

Blood Type: A-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Dark Blonde

Hair Style/Length: Long hair that ends at her shoulder and fashioned into a messy side braided ponytail on the left side of her shoulder.

Eye Color: Light Blue

Skin Tone: Pale with a faint tan line.

Body Type: a skinny, almost childlike physique with a developing chest.

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: A birthmark in the shape of a sheep on her lower back area.

Height: 5ft. 3inc. tall

Weight: 96lbs.

Normal Clothing: She wears a Victorian era medieval styled gown that is fashioned so that it ends just below her knees. The dress consists of an open neck section with fluffy white tiered embroidery along the edges of the neckline, the main dress upper portion is bright pink with a bright red bow tied in the middle of the chest part with poofy pink short sleeves with white cuffs, the skirt part of the dress is full and poofed out using a white petticoat and white ruffles underneath, the skirt also is draped with a magenta pink cloth over the sides with white and pale pink bows and ribbons laced around the ends of the skirt and white knee high socks with black mary jane shoes on her feet.

Exercise Clothing: She wears a long sleeved muted pink shirt with a picture of a sleeping goat on the front and a pair of long grey pajama pants with white cotton balls attached to the sides of it.

Sleepwear: A fluffy grey cotton long sleeved sweater with a pink sheep with black X's over its eyes on the front, a pale pink knee length skirt with white stripes running along the ends of the hemline and a pair of fuzzy sheep shaped pink slippers on her feet.

Accessories: She wears a shepherdess styled bright pink bonnet hat over head with a white ribbons tied underneath her neck, a bright red bow is fashioned into her ponytail, a pair of pink gloves on her hands, a silver bracelet on her right wrist with a white sheep emblem on the front and a white thin shepherd's cane with a black and pink striped ribbon tied near the hook part of the cane she carries in her left hand.

* * *

11: Kagome Ito

Creator: Iron-Dougnut

Age: 22

Birthday: 1 June

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Paramount Fast Food Manager

Blood Type: B-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Hair Style/Length: Ito's hair is reaches to just beyond her shoulders. It's a chocolate brown, soft and well looked after. Its thick and malleable, and it's not strange to observe her braiding her hair in interesting and beautiful patterns .

Eye Colour: Sharp Ocean Green

Skin Tone: Pale to the point where one might think she has lived most her life indoors. Which she has. Similarly, her eyes seem just a little sunken and she has prominent bags under her eyes. A side effect of long hours. She attempts to hide with makeup.

Body Type: Ito is short, almost comely woman. She doesn't err to the tall side, and an abundance of fast-food meals has rounded her out a bit, but she works hard in her off time to maintain a healthy BMI. And it is paying off. Although a bit stout, Kagome strikes an attractive figure. Her hard work at the gym has left her deceptively strong as well.

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: None

Height: 155 cm (5.08ft)

Weight: 60 kg (120 lbs)

Normal Clothing: Ito Kagome usually wears a red McDonalds uniform shirt, black pants and a pair of white of black trainers. Sometimes the ensemble is completed by a grey cap, or the outfit is supplemented for a simple dark green t shirt, yellow skirt and loafers

Exercise Clothing: White shorts, trainers and navy socks, along with a navy tank top

Sleepwear: A simple and featureless white nightgown.

Accessories: Kagome where a simple leather wristband on her left arm.

* * *

12: Kalisto 'Kai' Ribeiro

Creator: Abitat Eco

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Birthday: 22nd April

Nationality: Brazilian (a member of the Andarilho People)

Talent: Divine Adventurer

Blood Type: B+

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Kai's hair is a dark brown in shade, with lighter streaks of paler sun-bleached brown scattered unevenly through his partings.

Hair Style/Length: His hair is still considerably long, reaching to his mid-back and secured in a messy spiky ponytail. Generally his style is messy, straggled and a bit spiked. Often one might find leaves and remnants of branches trapped in his locks. Kalisto's fringe is also long, diagonally cut and hanging thickly down his face to obscure his left eye. Two longer jagged strands hang on either side of his face, stopping at his chin, whilst a few random strands on the top of his hair stick out untidily.

Eye Color: Kai's eyes are a dark green in shade, slightly narrowed a little, but able to widen suddenly when alert and sensing danger. His eyebrows are of medium thickness and are often either raised or slanted down in pre-judgement or suspicion.

Skin Tone: His complexion is fairly dark, resembling a brown mocha shade.

Body Type: Kalisto's main body type is a slightly short but lean build. He might seem quite narrow shouldered with some decent muscle tone, but not to the point of being excessive. Despite perhaps not appearing like much, Kai has some undeniable strength within him, as well as flexibility and a litheness to him that makes it easier for various tasks, such as climbing and swinging in the highest tree-tops. His face shape is quite angular, with a pointed chin, high cheekbones, small upturned nose and thin brown lips often pressed together. His weight is proportional to his height and at the present time, a healthy figure.

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: He has a fair few scars littered across his body from his experiences, including scratches like claws along his neck, a few thinner ones down his arms and legs and a notable scar streaking right across the width of his face horizontally just above his nose. He also has streaks of light green and dark red face paint spread across his cheeks, resembling tribal paint (and sometimes this is accompanied by mud to aid with camouflage if he suddenly needs to). He also has a tattoo on his upper arm, designed to resemble two green smudged leaves crossed over together. As for birthmarks, he has a small one on his left ankle, a bit splodgy and slightly resembling a rising sun.

Height: 5.5 ft

Weight: 142 lbs

Normal Clothing: Kai's usual clothing is nothing particularly special, just casual clothing which is enough to keep his decency and provide some warmth and protection. This includes a slightly dusty dark green shirt with short sleeves and decorated with lighter green stripes, underneath a long and equally dusty dark grey hoodie with a broken zipper and hood, the hood sometimes worn over his head in the rain and sleeves rolled back to his elbows. On the lower half of his body, he wears a pair of long and slightly torn and dirtied pale brown trousers with large pockets on each side, the left leg extending to just below his knee, whilst the right ends slightly above, creating asymmetry between the two sides. The clothing seems definitely worn and most likely second hand, thrown together as an outfit from scratch. Sometimes he wears his feet bare with no qualms, but lately he has acquired a pair of worn bronze sandals, strapped semi-securely around his ankles.

Exercise Clothing: When exercising...Kalisto doesn't really alter his clothing much, besides taking off his hoodie if he gets hot and maybe changing into a different coloured shirt (a pale orange shirt with the silhouette of a wolf in the centre) but besides that, his clothing doesn't really change much. It doesn't matter to him. Clothes are just a basic necessity for warmth and to preserve modesty.

Sleepwear: Once again, he will not care what he sleeps in. If anything, he will strip down to underwear (a simple pair of red and white boxer shorts) and throw on an old dark red vest shirt to go with it.

Accessories: To go with his outfit, Kalisto does have a few notable accessories. This includes a large grey canvas backpack, containing a whole manner of items he has found or 'borrowed' (fresh berries, some poison darts and a blower, a sketchpad and pencils, a large skin flask of water, a screwdriver, an old deck of cards, a compass, a brooch in the shape of a lion...yes, there are quite a few strange things in that bag). Additionally, Kalisto wears a 'lucky' necklace depicting a jade charm in the shape of a wolf hanging on a simple brown string, a woven brown belt and discoloured oval buckle, a slightly blunted blade strapped to his thigh in a handmade sheath (easily accessible) and two similar anklets on a string secured just above his sandal straps, decorated with colourful metal beads, leaves and the odd tooth of a reluctantly defeated predator.

* * *

13: Fuka Tanaka

Creator: JCW18

Gender: Female

Age: 39

Birthday: September 14th

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Perfect Virologist

Blood Type: B Negative

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Dark Blue

Hair Style/Length: Long and curly, coming down to her bottom neck. Despite the curls, her hair is very well cleaned and maintained.

Eye Color: Crimson Red

Skin Tone: White, yet fairly tanned from spending most of her time outdoors.

Body Type: Slim and petite, and good looking and has good amounts of muscle. However, Fuka is small for her age, could be mistaken for a young adult or teen.

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: Has several burns and a few minor cuts on her hands and arms.

Height: 5 Feet, 4 Inches.

Weight: 144 pounds.

Normal Clothing: Fuka wears a fairly short blue mini skirt, and a red tank top shirt. Above it she wears a red and blue cloak, and always wears it with the hood over her head. She also has black boots and blue ankle length stockings.

Exercise Clothing: Fuka will simply remove her cloak.

Sleepwear: Will sleep in what she has. Such discomforts have come to not bother her.

Accessories: Black rimmed reading glasses that she almost always wears. Also has her wedding ring, which she never takes off.

* * *

14: Zetico Menghini

Creator: 1Glimmershine

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Birthday: 10/24

Nationality: Italian

Talent: Professional Agent

Blood Type: O+

(Appearance)

Hair Color: It's evenly divided between two colors. The upper half is black, and the lower half is eggplant.

Hair Style/Length: Shoulder length, dense hair with baby curls.

Eye Color: Plum

Skin Tone: Decently tanned

Body Type: Somewhat lean with a good amount of muscle.

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: He is missing his right eye and there's burn scars around it. He doesn't have a ring finger on his left hand, and he's missing a right ear.

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 189 lbs.

Normal Clothing: He wears a white sports coat that has 3 turquoise lines that run down from his shoulders to the ends of his sleeves, the inside of the coat is black. Underneath that, he has a navy blue undershirt. Furthermore, he wears burgundy slim fitting slacks, and black pointed boots. Additionally, he wears black neoprene gloves, the left one is custom designed for his left hand to fit with his missing finger.

Exercise Clothing: white gym pants with turquoise lines running down the pant legs, and a black short-sleeved shirt.

Sleepwear: Just some navy blue boxers.

Accessories: He wears a violet satin tie, a golden digital watch on his right wrist, and a golden monocle over his left (the monocle can be switched to zoom in as close as binoculars can), it has a steampunk theme to it as well. He does wear an eyepatch over his right eye, it's styled to look like a donut with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles. Furthermore, he has a utility belt around his waist, it holds all his special agent tools, such as a grappling hook, laser pen, silenced pistol, zip wire, the cookie flashbang, the exploding cannoli, and other pastry themed gadgets/weapons.

* * *

15: Beatrix "Trixie" Briedis

Creator: Trust Me

Translation: Beatrix (she who brings happiness), Briedis (deer)

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Birthday: February 26th

Nationality: Latvian

Talent: Star Webcam Model

Blood Type: O+

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Chartreuse

Hair Style/Length: Messy "sex hair" that falls down to her chest—intentionally styled to make it look like she just got out of bed after a night full of activities. Luscious, wavy bangs cover her right eye.

Eye Color: Magenta

Skin Tone: Pale to the extent of being translucent.

Body Type: Her three measurements (bust/waist/hips) are 26-18-30 (or 66-46-77). Absolutely flat-chested and petite to the utmost but has bizarrely wide hips and a memorable set of thighs that almost seem too thick for her frame.

Scars, Tattoos, or Birthmarks: None.

Height: 4'5" (135 cm)

Weight: 69 lbs (31 kg)

Normal Clothing: A red, short-sleeved dress shirt with the top three buttons undone (and no bra), an amaranth purple, pleated skirt, and similarly coloured Mary Janes.

Exercise Clothing: Trixie's typical outfit for exercise would consist of a red tube top and black spandex shorts—both of which are a few sizes too small. And her swimsuit would "simply" be a hot pink micro-bikini and matching G-string.

Sleepwear: Compared to Lumi's black lingerie, Trixie has a similar set of pure white lingerie. This is what she considers "casual" bedwear.

Accessories: Fine fishnet, thigh-high stockings, elbow-length gloves, and an O-ring choker (all of which are hot pink in colour). A red headband with stubby devil horns and matching spaded tail.

* * *

16: Hapi Neureal

Creator: life among the dead

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Birthday: August 11th

Nationality: Venezuelan/Latino

Talent: Divine Archangel

Blood Type: O-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Hippie pink in the back and malachite green in the front and bangs.

Hair Style/Length: Short, neat hair with the majority of his bangs parted to the right.

Eye Color: Vivid Orange (Black formerly)

Skin Tone: Light tan

Body Type: Lean, muscled body.

Extra Bodily Features: Aqua blue wings that span 14 ft altogether; 7 ft each wing.

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: A Pentagram tattoo on his upper chest.

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 230 lbs

Normal Clothing: A turquoise blue shirt with lighter shade sleeves, turquoise dress-like pants with yellow dots of various sizes and a v-pattern on the hem, and black shoes with white folds.

Exercise Clothing: A low-neck black tank top, grey pants.

Sleepwear: Shirtless, and light blue sweatpants.

Accessories: A two-ringed metal headband with three diamond shapes embedded into it, a blue tie with the Holy Cross, broken chains around his ankles, a metallic golden cross pinned to his shirt.

Pet: A cat named Azzur. He has brown fur and vibrant green eyes. He wears a white collar with a golden bell with a Holy Cross etched into the front of it and has green ribbons wrapped around his forearms. Azzur has the psyche of a dog. He's always running around, pouncing onto people with no regards for personal space and his meows tend to sound like a sharp bark. He is well-attuned to his seraph's emotions and doesn't stray too far from his side, actually usually seen curled around Hapi's neck when he's being particularly lazy.

* * *

17: Dayaveer Atal

Creator: pokemansuperallstar

Nicknames: Shining Paladin of The Light Realm, Day for shortening his name.

Gender: male

Age: 17

Birthday: 6/20

Nationality: half filippino half american

Talent: Ace Assistant (Refers to self as Ace Hero)

Blood Type: O

(Appearance)

Hair Color: brownish red

Hair Style/Length: his hairstyle is Uneven Spikes and is medium length.

Eye Color: left eye is hazel brown and the right eye is a light blue

Skin Tone: light beige

Body Type: he has a regular body type. Not really fit for say but definatly not pudgy. More around thin body type.

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: he has a tattoo of some words in a circle spelled in runic that means guardian on the right in electric blue that glows and helper on left his left in neon green that also seems to glow. He also has a small scar on his chest near his heart that is covered by a bandage patch.

Height: 5.4

Weight: 125

Normal Clothing: he wears a ivory coat with golden on the sleeves of the coat and the ends of the hood and the end of the coat that goes down to his legs. Under that coat he wears a blue short sleeve turtle neck shirt and has a pair of navy blue cargo pants with multiple pockets on the side and some black non slip black boots.

Exercise Clothing: he wears a plain white shirt and a plain pair of red small shorts and sneakers.

Sleepwear: he wears a black short sleeve shirt with swords and sheilds all around it and some black sweats with the same designs on it. He also has a pair of pink bunny slippers.

Swimwear: he wears a pair of blue swim trunks and a pair of croc sandles with little sword designs on the left that is blue and shield designs on the right one that is red.

Accessories: he has a huge bag on his back full of different things like a first aid kit, some of his 'mystical items' like his very real looking golden spear with lightning designs on it named Zan Partizanne the thunder spear, a realistic looking gun that is nothing more than a water gun, a pair of black and white combat knives, a small silver and emerald colored harp, a couple of other weird rocks and journals with tons of drawing in them, and a small brown music box that plays the song bad apple.

* * *

18: Tina Beaufort

Creator: Storyproducer214

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Birthday: May 3rd

Nationality: British

Talent: Ace Sniper

Blood Type: AB-

Hair Color: Platinum Blonde

Hair Style/Length: Long hair that reaches mid-back and is tied into pigtails, with some locks of hair loose on the sides.

Eye Color: Icy Blue

Skin Tone: Fair

Body Type: Very slender and doll-like, with a B-cup sized chest.

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: Has rough calluses on her hands, which are covered by her gloves, as well as some permanent bruises on her back.

Height: 4'6 ft

Weight: 92 lbs

Normal Clothing: She wears a sleeveless dark blue gothic lolita dress with black frills spread throughout, which reach down to her knees, and black knee-high leather boots with six belt straps on each one, accompanied by dark gray thigh-high stockings.

Exercise Clothing: She wears a blue jacket over a black t-shirt, with dark blue running shorts and white sneakers.

Sleepwear: She wears sky blue pajamas with cartoonish-looking crosshairs printed all over them.

Accessories: She keeps two knife holsters on each of her upper thighs, which are hidden by her dress, along with some on the sides of her boots. She carries a PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II sniper rifle behind her back with a brown leather strap, with a gray leather belt around her waist that contains its ammunition, which consist of Full Metal Jacket rounds, penetrating rounds, and tracer and incendiary rounds. She also wears black fingerless gloves on her hands.

* * *

19: Kogo Rukki

Creator: PettyPunk

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Birthday: September 4th

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Charm

Blood Type: O+

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Indigo (Blueish Purple)

Hair Style/Length: Mid-back length pulled into a side braid and laid over her shoulder. The end of which has been styled into a heart shape.

Eye Color: Silver

Skin Tone: Lightly tanned

Body Type: fit and next to no fat. Moderately small chested (B-cup), narrow waist and noticeably curvy hips.

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: A small shark bite scar on her right shin

Height: 5' 4"

Weight: 124

Normal Clothing: A blue school blazer, with purple accents along the edges and sleeves of the garment. A white button down shirt. Black mid-thigh length skirt. Thigh-high white stockings. Black school dress shoes

Exercise Clothing: A white sleeveless shirt and a pair of purple short-shorts, and grey running shoes with ankle length socks.

Sleepwear: A large oversized dark green t-shirt.

Accessories: A black ribbon tied into a bow around her shirt's collar. A pair of ruby earrings. A small lucky Shinto talisman used as her hair tie for the end of her braid.

* * *

20: Auryon Mercelina

Creator: Kobold Necromancer

Gender: Female

Age: 18, close to 19

Birthday: May 15th

Nationality: Spanish-American (3rd generation American, family came from Spain.)

Talent: Ultimate Slayer

Blood Type: O+ (At least it used to be; if one were to analyze her blood after receiving her talent, it would be an unknown type of blood...)

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Black

Hair Style/Length: Long and down to the small of her back, a lengthy and flowing cascade of ebony hair that almost appears unnaturally smooth; it almost appears to be a whip-like weapon.

Eye Color: Brown, normally. When she is ready for violence, a fight, or is incredibly angry, her eyes turn and blow bright cyan (light blue), and crackle out like lightning when pissed off.

Skin Tone: Rich dark tan.

Body Type: Athletic build, a woman who has kept good care of her body. C-cup breasts bordering on D.

Scars, Tattoos, Birthmarks: Burn scar on her left hip, knife scar near the small of her back. A birthmark vaguely shaped like a blade on her right temple. No tattoos.

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 120 lbs.

Normal Clothing: She wears a belly shirt tank-top, which gives a good view of her stomach, lower back, and cleavage; it's black, with the icon of a white angel halo over a sword. Her nylon skirt is green, a little lengthier down one side of her leg, a tie on the back. Sneakers, socks, red underwear.

Exercise Clothing: Red exercise bra, red women's jogging shorts, white sweatband.

Sleepwear: Flimsy red shirt and sweat pants (shorts if it is hot).

Accessories: No rings or earrings, no piercings, only make-up is dark crimson eyeshadow. She wears a silver bracelet that has a musical score around it. Her nails are long and trimmed to form spikes, painted blood red.

* * *

21: Kaizoku Dokuro

Creator: PettyPunk

Gender: Male

Age: 20 (Listed as 17 in KKL, but he had lost 2 years and was actually 19)

Birthday: July 1st

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Ultimate Sailor, or Pirate if you fancy

Blood Type: A+

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Black fading to mint green halfway through

Hair Style/Length: Long hair reaching his shoulder blades. In braids with beads tied into the ends. A short but full black beard

Eye Color: Dark green

Skin Tone: Deeper tan than his time in KKL

Body Type: More muscular since his last appearance

Scars: Missing most of the ring finger on his right hand. Both of his arms are covered in burn scars going up to his shoulders.

Tattoos: A chest tattoo of a ship's wheel covered in rope and with an anchor. The words 'A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor' are around the wheel. A tattoo taking up most of his back of a weathered scroll that lists the names of the participants of the Kuma Kuma World Killing Game.

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 182 pounds

Normal Clothing: A black leather coat that reaches down to his knees, worn on the shoulders like a cape. The coat has golden embroidery along the edges, shoulders, and arms. Dark green uniform with the top half tied around his waist. A large brown leather belt with a golden buckle. Dark blue fingerless leather gloves and black steel-toed boots.

Exercise Clothing: Mint green tank shirt with a skull and cross bones, black exercise shorts and green running shoes.

Sleepwear: A loose black shirt for the band Mirage, and a pair of grey boxers.

Accessories: Several silver piercings on his right eyebrow and black stud snake bites piercings. He has multiple gold and silver earrings added to the lodes and the upper part. His nails are painted alternating silver and lavender, save for the left ring finger which has silver and lavender in equal halves on the nail. A dark green bandana covering the top oh his head that has a skull and crossbones on the forehead. A black Ibanez bass guitar with electric green streaks and a forest green shoulder strap in a carrying bag.

* * *

22: Amar Manas

Creator: RazTheGiant

Gender: None, prefers male terms

Age: 8

Birthday: October 10th

Nationality: Indian

Talent: Advanced Therapist

Blood Type: N/A

(Appearance)

Hair Color: N/A

Hair Style/Length: N/A

Eye Color: Glowing neon yellow iris and black sclera

Skin Tone: Steel grey

Body Type: Ectomorph

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: Black lines that appear on his joints and in decorative lines over places like his face. There is also a black gear icon on his chest.

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 175

Normal Clothing: Black knit cap, tan pea coat, low-cut white tank top, blue jeans and tan low heeled dress shoes. All of his clothing is made and styled for women.

Accessories: A tan suitcase that contains papers, pens and inkwells.

* * *

23: Jacqueline Mcbride (Goes by Jack or Jackie)

Creator: Crit Fail

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Birthday: July 4th

Nationality: American

Talent: Ultimate Cowgirl

Sexuality: Bisexual

Blood Type: O-

Hair Color: Dirty Blonde

Hair Style/Length: Her hair is long and usually tapers down to the middle of her back, but sometimes she has it pulled up into pigtails.

Eye Color: Aqua blue

Skin Tone: Extremely tanned

Body Type: Jack is a curvy tall beauty with long shapely legs and ample double D cup bossom, wide supple hips and an ample behind. However she also muscular arms and legs due to her physical activity.

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: She has an Apple Tattoo with a bite missing on her left thigh.

Height: 5'9

Weight: 155 Lbs

Normal Clothing: Jack wears a brown leather jacket that reaches her hips, a blue and red checkered button up shirt that has been rolled up to above her navel accentuating her midriff and ample chest. She wears chaps that match her jacket and blue jeans. A worn brown cowboy hat rests on her head at all times. She has a belt that has two revolvers hanging from it. A lasso is hung around her left shoulder. She wears a pair of leather cowboy boots with spurs.

Exercise Clothing: Daisy dukes and a cropped checkered top.

Sleepwear: Commando.

Accessories: Revolvers, Pistols, and Hat.

* * *

24: Kaiten Kakegoto

Creator: LckiKoin

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Birthday: September 6 (birth date of John Joseph Merlin, the man credited for inventing in-line skates)

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Pyrrhic High Roller

Blood Type: A-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Italian Electric Blue with yellow streaks

Hair Style/Length: Kaiten has her bangs combed over to the left side of her face, while at the same time having her yellow streaks of hair to form a thunder. She also ties her hair into what appears to be a bun that has numerous strands of hair pop out of it, resulting in it's sharp propeller-like appearance. Yellow streaks appear to color the sides of the "propeller fins" and shaping their edges in a thunder-like form.

Eye Color: She wears electric blue contacts with yellow, thunder-shaped pupils. Her natural eye color is hot pink.

Skin Tone: She appears rather tanned, mostly due to her doing her hobbies.

Body Type: Athletic with a moderate bust (at least a c-cup)

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: a "Skate-R-Die" tattoo on her left bicep. A scar on the back of her left hand, as if she got stabbed with some sort of knife. Diamond piercing on her navel.

Height: 172 cm / 5'8

Weight: 58 kg / 127 lbs

Normal Clothing: At first, Kaiten appears as a formal looking female dressed in a white button-up shirt over an expensive-looking dark blue 2-piece suit with gold accents, but her white shirt is actually cut up in many places (it's actually sleeveless and exposes her navel) in order to give a freedom of movement while at the same time appearing to be like she's fully dressed for the occasion (when fully worn with the suit). She also wears suspenders underneath her cut-up shirt, dark blue dress shoes, black socks, a black belt with a silver chain that has 7 sword like emblems hanging from it, a single black fingerless glove worn on her left hand that features a white spade symbol with the number 7 on it, and a deep sea blue tie with a yellow "jagged spiral" symbol on it. She would often take her suit jacket off.

Exercise Clothing: She simply removes her suit and changes her suit pants into a pair of blue shorts with yellow thunder-like accents. She also changes her shoes into a pair of yellow, black, and dark blue shoes

Sleepwear: Electric Blue tank top that has yellow text that says "ELECTRIC LADYLAND" on it, and a pair of jean shorts.

Accessories: On her right ear is a small citrine earring. A deep-blue shoe bag is often slung on her left shoulder, inside of which contains a pair of Italian electric blue and yellow roller in-line skates. Hidden underneath her suit are a set of similarly colored kneepads and elbow pads. A yellow pin with an engraving of a bee and the initials "H.R." under it can be seen pinned on her lapel. She also keeps a platinum poker chip featuring an engraving of a Monokuma-like manekineko (the headmaster of her game) on one side and another being of her as a memorabilia from her previous Killing Game. Lastly, a silver bracelet can be seen on her right hand, which features 7 sword-like shapes on it.

* * *

25: Takeji Kano

Creator: Prince PokePersona

Gender: Male

Age: 19 years old

Birthday: August 7th

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Survivalist

Blood Type: O-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Maroon Brownish Red with silvery white frosted tips in his hair.

Hair Style/Length: Messy shoulder length hair fashioned into a messy side ponytail with long stray strands of hair messily swooped around his head with some strands sticking over his face, some perched on his forehead and the frosted tips of his hair sticking up in the front.

Eye Color: Gray

Skin Tone: Light Brown

Body Type: A muscular lean physique with defined abs and muscles

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: A large diagonal scar over his chest, a few small scars over his cheeks; one line over his lips extending to his chin and a smaller one over his right eye, rough indents and calluses on his palms with some knife scars on his forearms and some claw marks on both sides of his shoulders and some minute scars over his legs.

Height: 6ft. 1inc. tall

Weight: 153lbs.

Normal Clothing: He wears a forest green sleeveless tight form fitting tank top with a faded white tree print on the front and some small tears and black stitches made in the design, a pair of dark blue distressed short jeans with mismatched tears near the leg holes with small holes near the thigh area, a light blue worn out jacket tied around his waist with red old stitching in the sleeves and green and red leaf patterned swimming water shoes on his feet.

Exercise Clothing: He likes to exercise shirtless out of habit, but he wears dark orange exercise pants with red and grey claw mark patterns spread out through the design and black lines along the sides.

Sleepwear: A pair of black boxers with white pandas printed all over the design and dark green headband in his hair.

Accessories: He wears a camo green bandana over his forehead with some of the fabric sticking out of the top in front of his hair, a black string necklace with a peridot saber tooth pendant around his neck, special handmade white bracelets around both of his wrists; the left one is caked with old leaves and a faint brown muddy substance with twigs and stones in the design and the right one is decorated with bright red, purple, orange and blue flowers, dirty white wrap bandages around his legs caked with mud and dried up blood and a small machete inside of a black holster around his back.

* * *

26: Daniela Gomez

Creator: TJMike

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Birthday: August 5th

Nationality: Spain

Talent: Gifted Spy

Blood Type: A+

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Light Turquoise

Hair Style/Length: Shoulder lenght. Curly, let loose. (Black Widow style from the first Avengers movie)

Eye Color: Dark Green

Skin Tone: Tan (Hispanic like)

Body Type: Quite curvy frame, fit complexion.

Scars,Tattoos or Birthmarks: None visible, although she bears a burning scar on her left side of her belly.

Height: 170 cm

Weight: 62 kg

Normal Clothing: A white shirt, first button undone that shows a bit of cleavage, with small flowers pattern. Pale green pants with a deep green belt. She also wears brown dress shoes.

Exercise Clothing: A light blue t-shirt, along with dark green shorts, white socks and white tennis.

Sleepwear: Daniela tends to sleep with a black nightgown with straps, accentuating her curves and figure further.

Accessories: A vibrant green scarf around her neck.

* * *

27: Nana

Creator: Alto

Gender: Female

Age: ?

Birthday: ?

Nationality: ?

Talent: Best Veterinarian

Blood Type: ?

(Appearance)

Hair Color Style/Length : Link pink hair of mid chest length. Worn in two low pigtails with long bangs covering her right eye.

Eye Color: Light blue

Skin Tone: The little skin that Nana shows is incredibly pale in color, nearing white.

Body Type: It is impossible to tell for sure through all of the bulky clothing she wears, though she appears to have an average build

Height: 4'11"

Weight: ?

Normal Clothing: Nana wears a long-sleeved knee mid-calf length light brown striped dress, complete with pink white and yellow petticoats underneath giving it a very full skirt. The dress is synched at the waist by a pink bow with yellow pom poms attached to the end, and a black and white apron styled to look like the wings of an insect. Animal motifs carry on throughout Nana's outfits with her donning a large and unruly pair of white gloves resembling the paws of a rabbit, and a black and white hood that was made to look like a penguin. On her feet she wears a very bulky and lumpy pair of black leg warmers which are tucked into a wool lined pair of brown boots, the bottom part of which were made to look as though they were hooves. On her face Nana can always been seen wearing a black medical mask, along with a pink and white striped scarf wrapped around her neck.

* * *

28: Kotaro Kanaka (first last)

((Given the title of Maestro in the world of music though he rarely goes by that name if he can avoid it))

Gender: Male

Age: 29

Birthday: November 21st

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Former Elite Maestro

Blood Type: A+

Hair Color: Black with some streaks of grey running through it.

Hair Style/Length: Long mid back length hair that is clearly in need of a good brushing. Worn in a low ponytail. He is very rarely clean shaven and almost always has some amount of stubble on his face, this with the dark bags that seem to constantly be under his eyes give him the look of a very tired man.

Eye Color: Green

Skin Tone: Pale, with an almost unhealthy sheen to it.

Body Type: Thin and lanky. He has very little muscle on his body and is completely out of shape.

Scars, Tattoos, or Birthmarks: n/a

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 170lbs

Normal Clothing: An obnoxiously colored and patterned green, orange, and yellow Hawaiian style shirt, complete with a musical note pattern. A pair of black dress pants, and a pair of black and white flip flops.

Exercise Clothing: n/a

Sleepwear: An old and torn white t-shirt from the Tokyo Star Orchestra that was given to him for free from years ago, a pair of simple grey sweatpants, and a quite ugly lime green tiger striped snuggie.

Accessories: A thoroughly scratched pair of black sunglasses that are more often kept in the pocket of his pants than worn. A silver necklace with a charm in the shape of a small bird that is worn hidden under his other clothing.

* * *

29: Naoki Watanabe

Creator: Magus1108

Gender: Male

Age: 104

Birthday: July 26th

Nationality: Japanese

Talent: Ultimate Archer

Blood Type: O-

(Appearance)

Hair Color Hair Style/Length: Naoki doesn't have any hair on his head, having gone completely bald in his old age. He does, however, have a magnificent handlebar mustache, and a well groomed, pointed beard that reaches down to his collarbone. Both his facial hair and eyebrows have grown white with age, as well.

Eye Color: A deep crimson red

Skin Tone: Naoki has obviously tanned and bronzed skin, his skin permanently tanned from a life in the outdoors. Alongside his darkened tan, liver spots coat his skin liberally. They are most prominent on his bald head, and are another sign of his advanced age.

Body Type: Despite being over a century old, Naoki has managed to retain much of his muscle mass and overly large frame. Naoki very much looks like a body-builder, his hulking form littered with well defined and well used muscles. For an old man, Naoki overall has an intimidating and powerful look to him, though that intimidating appearance is at times offset by his more kind and virtuous personality.

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: Naoki has a variety of liver spots that mar his visible skin. Besides that, he also has a deep, jagged scar that runs down from his right shoulder, all the way to his left hip.

Height: 6'5

Weight: 303 lbs (most of his weight comes from muscle mass, rather than fat)

Normal Clothing: Naoki tends to wear a long, blackish-brown fur coat over his cumbersome frame, due to him usually living in the colder, more mountainous regions of Japan most of the year. The coat itself reaches all the way down to his knees. He also tends to wear a fur cap and a pair of fur-lined boots. Beneath his fur coat, he wears a pair of black suspenders, with a gray woolen shirt on top. In places where the temperature is hotter, he is more than willing to forgo both his coat and his woolen shirt, tying both the shirt and coat around his waist. That then leaves him bare-chested, and just in a pair of black suspenders.

Exercise Clothing: Naoki tends to wear a simple green track-suit as his go-to apparel for exercise clothing. A green jacket matched with green baggy pants.

Sleepwear: When going to sleep, Naoki tends to wear a simple white sleeveless tanktop (a wifebeater, essentially) matched with a pair of form-fitting, black briefs.

Accessories: Naoki tends to carry a modern hunting crossbow with him at all times, as well as an quiver full of arrows, usually twenty per quiver. For extended treks through the woods, he also tends to carry a backpack full of survival gear too: close to a dozen water bottles, some MRE rations, a flashlight, a few flares, a hunting knife, and some kindling material and a lighter to make a quick, ready fire when necessary.

* * *

30: Natalya Chemovsky

Creator: CelestialSkyDragon

Nickname: Lya (Pronounced as Lia)

Gender: Female

Age: 11

Date of Birth: February 28th

Home country: Russia

Talent: Supreme Elementary Level Nuclear Physicist

Blood Type: B+

Appearance: Natalya is a short young lady, being about four feet, ten inches in height. She has mostly pale skin, with a sunkissed complexion and bright green eyes. She has a cute face, small nose and lips, along with long brown hair that reaches to her mid back.

Hair color/style: Brown, with streaks of neon green

Eye Color: Green

Skin Tone: Pale, sunkissed

Body Type: Petite

Birthmarks, scars or tattoos: None

Height: 4'10''

Weight: 84LBS

Outfits: Natalya wears a long sleeved shirt with brown stripes on it. It is a light pink color, and has a picture of a cat printed on the front. She wears a matching pair of blue jean shorts, that reach to her mid thighs. She wears a pair of white crew socks and worn converse sneakers. Over her outfit, she wears a white lab coat.

Nuclear Physics Outfit: She wears a normal Bio-Suit, meant to keep heavy amounts of radiation away from her body.

Swim Suit: Natalya wears a bright green two piece bikini with a triangle shaped top, and a frilled skirt like bottom.

Jewelry: She wears a small golden wrist watch on her left wrist

* * *

31: Roberta Williams

**Creator: **Yuuki Itsuka

**Gender: **Female

**Age: **18 years old

**Birthday:** July 12

**Nationality: **American

**Talent: **Occult Expert

**Blood Type: **unknown

**(Appearance)**

**Hair Color: **Dark blue

**Hair Style/Length: **Her hair is waist length and let loose up to her back.

**Eye Color: **Dark Pink

**Skin Tone: **fair

**Body Type: **Her body is quite tall and slender. Her breasts are of the right size and her bottom as well. Her fingers are dainty and almost look delicate. Her skin is also very smooth.

**Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: **none

**Height: **6 ft.

**Weight: **145 lbs.

**Normal Clothing: **Roberta wears a gothic Lolita outfit that reaches up her calf. There's also a large ribbon on her neck. She wears a white kneesocks that reaches her thighs and a garter belt. Her choice of footwear is a black heeled boots with ribbons on the side.

**Exercise Clothing: **Roberta wears a black tracksuit with a sports bra underneath whenever she's exercising.

**Sleepwear**: A black night gown with a large ribbon on the chest. She also wears a sleeping hat that's shaped like a witch hat.

**Accessories: **Roberta has a wide brimmed witch hat on her head. She also has a staff with her**.**


	2. FACE THE DARKNESS

Within a confined apartment in the city of Florence, the telltale sounds of packing spoke of one particularly tall woman's activity. Simply calling her 'tall' wasn't quite enough. Over two meters tall and as slender as a birch, the young lady would have been gangly had she not an air of elegance to her and the snow-white face of an angel. Currently transfixed on the array of books, writing utensils, and toiletries atop her bed, her eyes were of caramel that whispered saccharine promises through their gaze alone.

"There is room for naught but the essentials, though sentimentality is itself essential, no?" she half-mused, half-joked to herself with a wry smile. Her long arms, crisscrossed by corset piercings of black ribbon, reached out to a vial of cinnamon-scented perfume. She planted a small kiss on the bottle before gingerly placing it into a secure pouch of her leather messenger bag.

With that, the woman quickened her pace and sorted through the rest of her belongings. A notebook decorated with unicorn stickers, a full set of glitter gel pens, so on and so forth. Satisfied, she slung her bag over her shoulder and set off for the door, but not before wrapping a white scarf around her neck and plopping down a floppy witch hat onto her head of neck-length, peach-colored hair. With her stunning, statuesque physique and charcoal grey outfit that could only be described as 'eccentric', she was sure to cause a stir wherever she set foot.

Luminisa Lupei, the Professional Erotic Novelist, had a plane to catch. But as she left her apartment, she'd bump her head on the door frame—a most common occurrence.

As Lumi descended the stairs to the bottom of her apartment complex, the soft scent of smoke reached her nostrils. And when she got to the main 'lobby' of her apartment, she'd soon discover the source.

Propped up against the exit of the main floor was a face that was both familiar, and yet foreign. She was more used to seeing Pietro Lombardi as a lanky figure, usually moving about in his trademark chef outfit. He had changed since she last saw him, however.

Now he was dressed as a Catholic Cardinal, though the somewhat stylized manner of his dress and his military insignia marked him as something else entirely: an Inquisitorial Knight. An institution founded by the new government in Rome. Technically speaking, it was merely a new branch of the Church...but considering the Pope ruled Italy in all but name these days, the distinction mattered little.

"Lumi...it's been quite some time, hasn't it?" Pietro spoke up, glancing over at her with a keen eye. He took another drag from his cigarette, before puffing out a ring of smoke. "In fact, I don't think I've been back in Florence since we all escaped the Academy together. Heh, I never did understand how you could stand to keep living here. Just being in this cursed city makes my skin crawl."

The Erotic Novelist stopped dead in her tracks. Her face was frozen, lips pressed together, though moist eyes betrayed a swell of emotion. She tapped her chin twice. "I go by 'Lumi' to my friends, of which I have very few, arguably none...Pietro, do you mean to say we are still friends? Even after all that has changed around us? About us? Between us?" Her voice, which had started as icy, was beginning to take on a warm, teasing tone. "Fufufu, have you come all this way just for a head pat?"

Pietro stared long and hard at Lumi, before letting out the barest hint of a chuckle. He then took one last drag from his cigarette, before putting it out against the wall, and flicking it to the floor.

Instead of answering her directly, he instead said, "You know, I happened to read a copy of your book. The entire thing, all the way through. Took a lot of immense personal pleasure in burning it to cinders. Still, it was...interesting, in its own way. I have to ask...did you really spend the whole night with me in the infirmary, after I nearly died? Or was that just something you made up for your little story?"

Lumi locked her fingers together and smiled ever so softly at the Inquisitor. "Oh Pietro, 'twas not my proudest work, but the details hold true. I held your hand the entire time. Rugged and scarred, the hands of a boy who had burnt himself one too many times...So much pain in pursuit of what?" She pouted before planting a hand on her hip. "A harmless little novelist who is simply on her way home?"

Again, Pietro didn't respond to her right away. Instead, he simply nodded his head and straightened his body: he was still as tall as she remembered, but compared to her, well...he didn't quite match up.

"Luminisa Lupei, by order of the Catholic Church and the Holy Italian Republic, your student visa has been rescinded. You are to report to the nearest possible international airport, and leave Italy post-haste. Failure to comply will result in your imprisonment and forced exile from the country."

He paused, eyeing her a moment longer before reaching out with his hand. "An officer of the law is expected to escort you to the Florence International Airport, and considering my rank within the Church and government, I believe I shall suffice. Shall we leave, Miss Lupei?"

The young lady quirked an eyebrow. "Oh my, was there really a need for so much fanfare if all you wanted to do was hold my hand? I told you I was already on my way home...There is nothing left for me here." She took a large step forward and settled her slender hand onto his. "Is this because I'm Orthodox? Goodness, whatever happened to Florence being a shining jewel of tolerance and diversity?" she moaned with mock exasperation.

Pietro rolled his eyes, but led her out all the same. He guided her on over to a limousine that was parked just out front. He helped her inside first, before going around to the other side and getting in. Once they were both settled, the driver started up the car and drove off.

"...It had more to do with the fact you made an erotic novel based upon a national tragedy in Italy. But being orthodox certainly didn't help your case," he finally explained, as he leaned back into the soft interior of the limo.

Resting her cheek against one of the windows, Lumi seemed to withdraw into herself. "I know, I know, of course I do...In all honesty, I would have liked to have burned every copy myself. Oh, forever the question is posed: why must people delight in such debauchery—to the extent that *Florentine* became my most infamous work?" she muttered before craning her neck toward Pietro. "That's enough of my pitiful misgivings as a person. As a writer, I now must ask if you had any critiques? You say you read it in full, after all...Tell me, were there any particular scenes you lingered on? My own shower scene, perhaps? Don't be shy to admit it."

Pietro's eye twitched ever so slightly, but he was otherwise unresponsive. For a few minutes, at least. "I found the ending unsatisfying. A malevolent AI, the cause of all this suffering...but to what end? Who created it in the first place? Who implanted it in the academy? And what became of it after we left, and the school blew up? Question upon question remains...and I've been trying to answer them."

"Have you?" Lumi questioned as her gaze flitted across the limousine's opulent interior. "Under the orders of the Catholic Church, or for yourself? I can't imagine it's the former, for they seem to be occupied with little but their personal gain nowadays, as one can infer from all this irreverent materialism...But no, I shouldn't be so hasty in my criticisms. Perhaps you had this luxurious ride prepared just for me, out of your own pocket?" She stuck the tip of her tongue out—its silver barbell piercing glistened underneath the light.

As soon as Lumi withdrew her tongue, her features became stoic once more. "Okay. I've had my fill of teasing you...The answers you're looking for? You won't find them. You really ought to leave it to those more capable than you—namely myself. Leave it to 'Big Sis', yes? Pietro, if you haven't forgotten who I am, then surely you understand this is non-negotiable. I haven't been idle all this time, either."

"Heh, I expected no less from you, Lumi," Pietro replied, offering her a bemused smile. "Still, I cannot end my own quest for answers. I made a promise to God Almighty that the person behind the destruction of our Academy would be brought to justice, no matter the cost. And while I haven't found this culprit yet...I did come across something equally interesting."

He paused, before reaching into his robes, and withdrawing a photo. "I don't know if you remember him: I certainly didn't. Zetico Menghini, the Professional Agent. Believed to be among all those students and faculty who died at the Museum Killing Game. But I'm starting to suspect he may have made it out alive after all. And if so...perhaps this could be the answer behind why everyone died in the Museum, while some of us survived the Academy."

Lumi stared at the photo with the intensity of a she-wolf eyeing its prey. Moments later, she quipped, "Despite the memorable name, I don't know who this boy is...though what I know with a negligible chance of error is that he most definitely is the type who favors food play, don't you think? How unhygienic, though certainly not without its merits as an addition to the eroticist's palette."

Lightly tugging on her witch hat, the young lady shook her head. "Apologies. I promised to stop teasing you for now, didn't I? Yes, I did. Well then, assuming your sleuthing is valid—and it may not be—this Zetico boy is one I will remember for future reference."

Pietro gave a small scoff in reply. After a moment though, he simply nodded and moved on. "Well, we are at least on the same page now, if nothing else."

He opened his mouth to speak further but paused as he felt the limo slow to a crawl. Pietro closed his eyes, murmuring a brief prayer, before looking back at Lumi again. "It seems this is where we part ways, Luminisa Lupei. I do wish you the best of luck. Despite everything that happened afterward...we survived the same hell together. Don't think I'll forget that. It is not a bond that can be severed easily...despite what we may wish to the contrary."

Lumi reached out with her right hand and patted the Inquisitor not once, not twice, but three times on his head in rapid succession. "Thank you for your hospitality, Pietro...and I'm sorry I couldn't do more for all of us back then..." she murmured with a forlorn smile.

Blowing an errant strand of hair aside, she took a leisurely step out of the vehicle. "Do take care, and I hope you'll someday find yourself in the kitchen again, Professional Chef. You were much more handsome in your chef's uniform compared to the tin foil you're wearing right now. Such a shame." With that, she turned around and marched off, her boots clacking against the pavement.

The Erotic Novelist was almost out of sight when she suddenly spun on her heels, waved an arm, and called out for the world to hear, "Cardinal-Major Pietro Lombardi! Rather than inhaling those pathetic little smokestacks to alleviate your stress, you ought to consider gardening instead! Getting dirty with a hoe or two would really do you some good! I could introduce you to my aunties some time if you'd like? After all, they are veterans in the field!"

Pietro stared long and hard at Lumi from inside the limo, gritting his teeth in obvious anger, before reaching over to slam the door closed. Shortly thereafter, the vehicle sped away, leaving her alone at the airport.

* * *

As the tragedy slowly continued to escalate and society began to fracture, many basic public services that people in the first world took for granted became scarce. One such luxury was medical care. Simply getting medication, treating serious injuries, and of course, diseases was difficult to do thanks to the loss of public hospitals and doctors.

However, as recent as late 2019, rumors began to spread of a mysterious doctor deep within the Himalayas who could treat even the most incurable diseases for free.

Many simply scoffed at the idea of someone so talented working for free, however, those who were truly desperate and on death's doorstep took to traversing the dangerous, freezing mountain range, having nothing left to lose…

It would be just such a person that ultimately knocked on Fuka's door, as it happened. It was late at night, and the doctor was ready to head to bed...but a pounding knock from the entrance of her makeshift abode gave her pause.

The bluenette rose, pushing her glasses up on her face. Unlike her time in the Chernobyl Institute, the former Perfect Virologist now had long, flowing curly hair and several cuts and burns on her hands. She now sported a red and blue cloak that came down to her knees. She shivered, reaching up and raising the hood on her cloak as she opened the door.

There she saw an older woman, who was very clearly tired, and a young boy of about 14 years old. To Fuka's surprise, the young boy was in the process of losing much of his hair, had many red and black blisters on his face, and was struggling to stand.

"You are the doctor I've heard so much about, yes? The one they say helps those who are hopeless?" the older woman brusquely asked, before glancing at the young teen at her side. "Please tell me you are. My grandson is so very ill, and the few doctors I've managed to take him to told me he's incurable. Please, can you help us?"

The former Virologist nodded, ushering the two inside and closing the door, offering the two towels to wipe the snow off themselves. "I see, I'll see what I can do. If you'll follow me please."

Fuka ushered the two to follow her, leading them to a backroom within the simple cabin. However, this room had plenty of top-notch medical equipment, a far cry from the rest of the modest home.

"Please, sit him down here," Fuka asked, directing the grandmother to rest the child on an observation table. The blue-haired woman grabbed a bottle of water, offering it to the boy. "Please, drink. You two must have had a long journey, one that I'm sure took a toll on him. May I ask your names? I'm Fuka Tanaka."

The boy laid down as she directed and greedily drank from the water bottle. The older woman, meanwhile, took a seat nearby and regarded Fuka with an even gaze. "...June, June Kurashiki. And my grandson here is Quark. Forgive him if he doesn't speak much: it's been a long journey for us both."

"I understand, there's no need to explain yourself," Fuka replied gently, as she began taking out medical equipment, including an iv. "I apologize for the remote location. It allows me to operate outside of the reach of Ultimate Despair."

Fula began taking out disinfectant alcohol and rubbing it on Quark's arm. "Just relax, you'll feel a slight prick." The young boy flinched as Fuka connected the iv to his arm, allowing the virologist to get a blood sample from him, as well as give him fluids if need be.

Once the boy's condition was stable, Fuka turned back to June. "While I wait on a blood sample, please tell me anything you can about his illness. When it started, the symptoms... every little bit helps."

"It was just a few weeks ago. My grandson and I make an...unconventional living. We had scoured the ruins of Chernobyl when he first started displaying symptoms. I feared it might have been radiation poisoning...but it wasn't. Still, the doctors I sought out weren't much help. Aside from him losing hair and coughing up blood, there wasn't much wrong they could find with him," June elaborated.

Upon hearing mentions of Chernobyl, Fuka's eyes widened in surprise, before she quickly recovered. "I see..." She mused with a frown, as she checked the results of the blood test. "Just as I thought." She sighed, pulling out a clipboard and writing some stuff down. "It seems to be a mutated, more aggressive version of Lupus Erythematous." Upon seeing the confused look the other woman was giving her, The former virologist continued. "Lupus Erythematous is an inflammatory disease in which the immune system attacks its own tissues. Usually this disease is very treatable, however, this version seems to have mutated thanks to the faint radiation in the area. I'll see if I can create a modified vaccine for it."

Fuka wordlessly drifted over to a table, pulling out various vials as she began working. A few minutes passed in silence before the bluenette spoke up. "So, you have worked within the Chernobyl ruins, you say? I remember- I mean, I have heard that the whole area of Pripyat is not only at risk of radiation, but has various mutated creatures as well."

"Oh, trust me, you wouldn't believe half of what we saw there," June snorted, giving a mirthless chuckle. "Spiders the size of dogs, carnivorous bats, even a giant, yet oddly peaceful, tentacle creature. It all sounds like something from a bad video game, but it was very real, all the same."

"Oh, I have no doubt," Fuka muttered under her breath, as she continued working. "Uhm, you also mentioned ruins... did something happen to the area around the power plant? Did you see anyone around there, like soldiers?" She asked almost desperately, before regaining her composure and shooting an apologetic glance at June. "Ah, sorry. I don't get very much news up here about what's going on, so I'm always curious." She laughed nervously.

"No, Doctor Tanaka. We only ever encountered fellow scavengers such as ourselves. No one else at all, really," she stated, shaking her head.

"Ah, is that so?" The virologist replied, disappointed. She cleared her throat as she finished mixing a strange looking liquid together. After running a few tests on it, she poured a bit into a needle, turning back to Quark. "This'll be just a quick prick." She said, injecting the needle into the boys arm. Within a few minutes, the young boys fever began to recede.

Satisfied, Fuka turned back to June. "It seems to already be taking effect. I'll have you two stay for a couple of days for observation if that's alright."

"Yes, of course. You have my gratitude, Doctor." June inclined her head, a small smile on her lips. "Still, I am...curious. You're an awfully long way from civilization. Surely someone of your talent could be hired to work for the best hospitals in the world?"

The former Perfect Virologist had a faraway look in her eyes. "I... well, it's complicated." She paused for a moment, before looking at the ground. "I suppose I just want to help people, no matter the cost to myself. I was at a dark point in my life, and created and did many things that have harmed people, and a few of my old... *friends*, helped me realize just how important life is, even if it was too late by the time I realized it."

"I suppose I'm just trying to atone."

"Well, consider yourself fortunate that you realized this at all. Not many people feel that need for atonement, let alone seek out to actually do it," she said, offering Fuka a wink. "I was still a stubborn, brash young woman at your age. It took me far longer to realize I needed to change."

"Hm, I suppose that is true." Fuka mused with a light smile. "One day, I need to find a few of those friends and apologize to them. That is the day I'll be able to rest easy."

"Well, I wish you luck on that," June replied. She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes as she relaxed. "Though I wonder...will it truly be that easy? It was just this hard tracking you down, Doctor Tanaka. Considering how little we know of what truly happened in your Institute, I cannot help but wonder if you're actually the only survivor of that place."

She paused, allowing a small smirk to come across her face as she continued on. "Still, you do have my thanks. I was so terribly worried about Quark...it almost makes me regret what comes next. Still, a deal is a deal, Doctor. This was the price I had to pay to save my grandson; I hope you can understand."

Before Fuka could react, the door to her cabin was suddenly kicked in, and a figure dressed in a burly black cloak strode forward. The only identifiable marking on them was the black skull mask covering their face.

"_Fuka Tanaka: the time for your penance has come,"_ the figure said, before drawing their gun, and firing it right at her.

* * *

It'd been a long day of work, but Naoki Watanabe was always up for the challenge. Despite his advanced age, it felt like he had the strength and stamina of ten men! Though even he was glad for a reprieve once and awhile.

Right now, he and his partner, Kaizoku Dokuro, were on their way back to their home base. They'd cleared all their missions today, and the boat's autopilot had been programmed to return to base. That left the two of them with a great deal of free time at the moment. Naoki spent a little of that time exercising: running laps around the ship, doing push-ups, squats, the whole nine yards. But even that became boring after a while, so he decided to go back to the main quarters of the vessel.

When he entered the room, he noticed Kaizoku lounging on his cot. He beamed at the younger man and waved at him. "Ah, Kaizoku! Catching up on some rest, I see?"

"Well we finally be getting the chance to, so may as well take advantage of it, ayy Gramps? Besides who knows how long it'll be before the Foundation fishes up another job for us," the Sailor mused as he sat up. The younger man started to run a hand through his beard.

"Indeed, indeed. After being out at sea for so long, I will admit, it'll be nice to be on land again. Much as I love this ship, well, it starts to feel somewhat cramped after a while," Naoki admitted, giving a small laugh. "So, what are your plans for your shore leave? Paying a visit to your friends, perhaps? Or your significant others?"

Kaizoku smiled as he idly tapped his thumb against his finger stump. "Well I would love to go see them again, but Naruhiko's band is touring again, and Tiana went with them so I'd have more travel ahead of me once we get back to Tokyo. I'll see how I'm feeling once I get ashore. Maybe I'll give Anna a call, see how she's doing in America."

As the young man finished he got out of his bed and grabbed his jacket and threw it over his shoulders. "And what about you Gramps? Any plans on your end?"

"Oh, nothing much. Some of my grandbabies are gonna be in Tokyo for a little while for a wedding, so I think I'll go visit with them. It's been too long since I've seen any of them!" Naoki declared, sniffling a little. "Why, they grow up so fast! It feels like just yesterday I was bouncing little Yusuke on my knee! And now he's getting married! Can you believe it? My, how time flies!"

"Heh, I imagine so at your age, be sure to give them each one of your back-breaking hugs. Y'know, given how strong you are ya could easily still give Yusuke a bounce or two," Kaizoku joked as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's a shame my sister already left for school while we were out. She's the only biological family I have left. I know dad would be proud of her. I think I'm gonna take a walk before I call it a night Gramps, never did care for being cramped up for too long."

"Ha! I shall keep that in mind! However much it might embarrass them, well...an old man like me can't help but indulge himself from time to time," Naoki declared, giving a boisterous laugh. "And I certainly know the feeling, young man. Well, have fun on your walk!"

Before Kaizoku could get up, however, they both heard the crackle of the radio. A handheld radio in the room, directly connected to the radio in the cockpit.

"_...Mayday, mayday! This is the_ Harlequin, _requesting immediate assistance from any vessels in the area...!"_

Kaizoku didn't waste much time as he bolted over to the radio. He shared a look with Naoki as he picked up the device and paused for a moment as the distress call sounded again. "...This is the _Sea Shanty_, we read you, Harlequin. What is your status? Over."

There was a moment of silence before someone answered them over the radio. "_There's been some sort of mechanical failure with the engine. It caused a fire to break out, but we managed to put that out. The engine, however, seems to be totaled. We can't get it to start. If you could offer use some sort of assistance, _Sea Shanty _then we'd mighty appreciate it."_

"Aye, _Harlequin_, send us your coordinates and we will see what we can do. Out." The Sailor sighed as he set down the radio. He began tracing the burn scars along his left forearm. "Looks there will be no rest for us, aye Gramps? Better go shut off the autopilot for now."

"Indeed," Naoki agreed, before turning to leave the room. He walked away and headed toward the cockpit, ready to shut down the autopilot and steer them over to where the _Harlequin_ was...

—

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to a medium-sized boat dead in the water. Someone was already waiting for them up on the deck, their face obscured by a skull mask.

"Thank goodness you're here," they said, helping them both up onto the deck after they pulled beside the _Harlequin_. It was hard to tell whether the person was a man or a woman, though a slight feminine tone in the stranger's voice suggested the latter. "We weren't sure if anyone was close enough to hear our signal."

"Think nothing of it. So do you want me to take a look at that engine of yours?" Kaizoku offered as he crossed his arms. After a few seconds, he looked over the quiet deck of the ship. "Where be your crew? Don't tell me you're all alone out here."

"Most of the others were hurt in the fire. Our doctor is taking care of them, leaving me about the only able-bodied person on board," they said. A moment later they beckoned Naoki and Kaizoku to follow, and led them down to the bowels of the ship.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that no one has died because of this. If we cannot fix your engine, we'll happily take your crew on board and bring you back to shore," Naoki offered as they walked.

The Sailor sighed as he adjusted his gloves over his burnt arms at the mention of a fire. "I can look over the engine if you want to go check on the crew, Gramps," Kaizoku replied. He placed a hand on the older man's shoulder as he gave a strained smile. "If you don't mind me asking, why the mask, afraid of having us see who you are by chance?"

"Ah, I know it must seem strange. I have an old...facial disfigurement, that I'm quite sensitive over. I prefer to wear a mask then let anyone see it," they replied, sounding understandably uncomfortable over the subject.

Naoki, for his part, shook his head. "Perhaps after we ascertain the condition of the engine. I'm no doctor, so I'm not sure how much use I'd be with the crew. I have a feeling my muscles would be of better use to you down here, young man."

A moment later, their guide stopped in front of a door and gestured toward it. "Here we are, gentlemen. The engine room."

"Aye, we'll get to work then, and I'm sorry about the question," Kaizoku said awkwardly as he made his way into the room and up to the blackened engine. After an initial look over Kaizoku looked over to his partner as he started pulling out his tools. "It seems like if this thing might just be salvageable, but it's not going to be an easy task. Probably going to be in for a long night at this rate."

Naoki nodded his head, his hand stroking his beard slightly as he took in the situation. "So I see. Well, if you need any assistance—!"

The sound of the door slamming shut interrupted his words. A second later, a loud hissing sound echoed through the room, and a visible green gas started pumping inside.

"_Naoki Watanabe, and Kaizoku Dokuro,"_ a voice echoed, its tone somehow a mixture of a man, a woman, and a child. "_The time has come to answer for your sins."_

"Sink me! What in the hell is this, an ambush? And our sins?" Kaizoku called out in surprise. The Sailor grabbed his bandana and pressed it against his mouth and nose in a vain attempt to filter out the gas.

Naoki immediately burst into action, slamming his massive frame against the bulk of the sealed door. The metal groaned slightly at his force, but otherwise didn't budge. He then slammed into it a second and third time, but it still didn't yield.

At that point, Naoki had breathed in too much of the gas. Whatever it was, he could already feel his body growing weaker and numb. "Gah! Confound this! You won't...get away with this, you madman!"

Naoki fell to his knees a moment later, coughing horrible as the gas continued to sedate his body. "Damn it...I can't...hold out...much longer..."

Kaizoku's legs fell out from under him as his filter only delayed the inevitable. He laid against the hard metal floor and he stared off as his consciousness started fading away. "Sui... Naru, Tia... Anna... I'm sorry..."

* * *

Amar Manas carefully studied the young woman seated in the interrogation room, the one-way glass connecting the observation room and interrogation room affording him a good view of her. He had to admit...after all his time working with the foundation, and working with humanity in general...this seemed to be his oddest case yet.

"We found her wandering the ruins of Kiev. No ID on her, or any sort of wallet or purse really. She insists her name is Nana, though does not give a family name. She also insists she is the 'Best Veterinarian'...but of course there's no talent known school with that sort of moniker for its students. And many questions about her past, or where she came from, were immediately shut down," a man in a black suit dutifully reported to him. "She seems to have a real problem with 'humans', according to her own words. Given you're not human yourself, Amar, we figured you might have a good shot at getting her to open up."

The Android nodded wordlessly at that, processing the information with ease. He studied the girl a moment longer through the glass, before making up his mind. "Very well. I shall go talk with her, and see what sort of headway I can make. This girl clearly needs some form of therapy...perhaps I can make an official diagnosis while we speak."

That said, he walked out of the observation area, and over to the connecting room. He knocked on the door, before coming in. "Greetings, Miss Nana. I am Amar Manas, the Advanced Therapist and a member of the foundation. How are you doing?"

"Ribbit, Nana has nothing more to say to stinky humans, even if you wear a cool outfit," the pink haired girl declared as she idly played with her hair. "So you guys should just let me go, woof!"

"Ah, but I'm not human, Miss Nana," Amar countered with a slight smile. He took a seat across from her, before opening up his tan pea coat, and pulling up his white undershirt, revealing the black gear icon he had on his chest. "I am an android, in fact. There's no trace of humanity in me whatsoever."

Nana's one visible eye narrowed as she looked between the Therapist's glowing eyes and shining metallic skin. She continued staring while letting out a soft hum, clearly trying her best to process the sight before her. After a few minutes she finally shrugged and gave an over-exaggerated sigh. "I guess that's true, meow. As long as you were never a human it's fine, but next time I want to meet an animal, ribbit!"

"I shall keep that in mind, Nana," Amar replied, before putting his clothing back in place. "Now, can you answer a few questions for me? What we're you doing out in Kiev? Where are you from?"

"Oh those are easy ones, chirp! Nana woke up in the forest and she went walking for a while playing with a ton of animals! Eventually I found some nice quiet buildings without all those noisy humans!" the girl explained happily starting to drum her paw covered hands against the desk.

"I see..." if he had one, Amar would have raised an eyebrow in curiosity. As it was, he simply studied Nana intently. At the same time, he covertly activated some special features of his...mostly so he could scan Nana's body, make sure she was healthy and stable.

"And do you remember anything before this forest? Your home, maybe? Friends? Family?" he pressed.

Nana ticked her head to the side as she started to ponder the questions. As she continued this, her paw began tapping against the side of her head, clearly starting to struggle. "Mmm nope! Nana just woke up, had her name on her clothes, and that's that, meow!"

Amar nodded lightly, finishing his scans a moment later. He filed them away for internal review later, and instead focused on Nana herself. *"Amnesia seems likely, perhaps as a byproduct of a previous traumatic event. This is likely where her hatred of humans stems from as well..."*

Deciding to change tactics, Amar pressed forward. "And what is it about humans that you do not like, Nana?"

"Nana doesn't like that they are super suspicious and are always up to something, bark," the girl stated with a nod.

"I see..." Amar murmured to himself. "'Always up to something'...what does that mean, exactly? Is this because someone hurt you in the past, perhaps? Is that why you're so suspicious of humans?"

The Veterinarian began thinking over the android's words and let her mind wander. After a short bit she started to visibly shrink and started to curl up around herself. "I'm not sure why, but I know I can't trust any humans."

Amar mulled that over a minute, before giving a simple nod. At the same time, his internal sensors pinged: a DNA match had been found for Nana, it seemed.

"Nana...tell me, does this name ring any bells to you?" he inquired after a moment, and softly spoke the name to her.

A few moments passed as Nana stared at Amar in confusion. She looked away as a tear started to form in her eye and her shoulders began visibly shaking, even under her many layers of clothing. The girl let out a scream as she fell out of her chair.

Amar stood up right away, staring down at Nana with great concern. Moments later, other foundation agents, including some medical personnel, flooded into the room. It took some hard work, but they managed to restrain Nana long enough to properly sedate her.

"I see I have my work cut out for me..." Amar muttered to himself, giving a small sigh. "Well, now I definitely know not to touch that issue. Still...don't worry, Nana: I won't give up on you. I can help you recover from...whatever horrible things happened to you. Even if you don't trust them, it's my duty to help humanity as a whole and you will be no exception."

* * *

It was a dark day in the Kingdom of Novoselic: a shattered nation where even now, after the return of its Golden Princess, the aftereffects of the Tragedy could still be felt. Princess, now Queen, Sonia Nevermind's miraculous return had done much to restore stability to the nation, however, it was still a struggle to truly rebuild and restore Novoselic. Years of civil war and despair-inspired terrorist attacks had left the nation scarred and disillusioned with the Monarchy.

It was in this time of uncertainty that certain factions started to rise within Novoselic...some aligned with the Queen, others not so much. Of these factions, the Novoselic Liberation Front, was one of these antagonistic groups. Initially, a small underground movement, the arrival, and guidance of a foreign operative had turned this small organization into a rebellion to be feared.

After months of buildup, however...it had all fallen apart.

On what was supposed to be their day of triumph, their violent revolution against the Queen in Novoselic's capital of Skongholm, it had all turned to ash. Weeks of painstaking planning had been ruined in an instant: the Imperial Palace had known of their impending strike, and a fully prepared counter-attack from the Novoselic military had thrown their entire grand plan into disarray.

A relatively bloodless coup against Queen Sonia had turned into a rout against the rebels. Skongholm had been turned into a city at war once more, as the army wiped out their forces block by block. In the face of this unimaginable disaster, a retreat had been ordered, but it had come far too late.

With the city closed off and the military searching street by street for survivors, those who had escaped the initial massacre had since regrouped to a safe-house in Skongholm. There were only five of them who showed up, and after waiting another half an hour, it seemed they might well be the last free members of the Liberation Front.

"No one else is coming," Alya Rivers, one of the remaining five, finally voiced aloud. She clutched a rifle to her chest, slouched against a wall as she kept watch over the entrance. "God damn it...we're all that's left, aren't we?"

A weak groan was the only answer she received. Laid out against the floor was one Alexander Vatutin, and tending to him was One-Eyed Petyr; or perhaps just 'Petyr' now, given the other seven Petyrs in their main group were now dead or captured.

Alexander was pale and shivering, though that wasn't a surprise, given the bullet-wound in his stomach. Petyr had tended to him best he could, but without proper medical attention, it was unlikely Alexander would live to see the morning.

"R-Rafael, please, what do we do now?!" Ian Dugan was the one who finally asked the question they all wanted to know the answer to. The younger man looked over desperately at their leader, one Rafael Velazsco, hoping for some form of guidance. "We can't stay here forever. The military will find us here eventually!"

The Ultimate Revolutionary took a long drag of his cigar, before exhaling a large cloud of smoke.

"The Whore Queen may have won this battle, but she has not won the war. We do what we always do, hide in the shadows until once more the time comes to strike," he said as he drew his pistol, checking how many bullets he had left in his clip. "However none of that will matter if we don't first exercise the cancer in our midst."

"Cancer?" Ian questioned, looking over at him uncertainly. "What-!"

"You mean we have a rat, don't you?" Petyr interrupted, glancing back as he briefly took his attention away from Alexander. "You think someone here sold us out? Sold out the Revolution?"

"Yes, Petyr. I do," Rafael said, as he looked out of the window and observed the tanks rolling through the streets. "I don't know if it was due to Sonia's newfound powers or if they simply couldn't resist the temptation of licking the boots of a feudal system for favour, but it is clear that one of you..." He looked back and scanned them all. "Is a traitor."

A tense silence filled the room at that accusation. Uneasy glances were exchanged, and it didn't take long at all to make everyone-well, almost everyone, Alexander was too focused on his own pain to really pay attention-eye each other with suspicion.

"Well, it damn well ain't me," Alya was the first one to speak up, her tone harsh and cold. "I have no love for the Golden Princess. Where was that cunt when our nation was crumbling apart? Where was she when the Palace fell and Despair spread everywhere? Off in Japan, spreading her legs for some foreign bastards. My family died during the Tragedy and the civil war...there's no way in hell I'd help someone who went and abandoned us when we needed her most!"

The Revolutionary took another puff of his cigar. "Indeed, Alya. Sonia and all of the other members of the royal family are nothing but slavers of their people. They claim to be appointed by some God to have the right to rule, and instead, they exploit the peasantry and run off to other countries to spend it. I'm just glad that slut Maribelle was destroyed by her own hubris, one less to put against the wall."

He sat on a chair, looking each of them over. "What of the rest of you? Are you each truly dedicated to the revolution?"

"I-I am, of course! I'd never betray our cause!" Ian was quick to protest his innocence, though he sounded quite nervous. "Besides, if there is a traitor, who says they're here with us? Maybe they died out there, or got pulled out by the military!"

"Or maybe it's the only non-Novoselic in the room?" Petyr cooly pointed out, staring hard at Rafael. "You're the one who came out of nowhere to 'lead' us. How do we know you didn't sell us out?"

Rafael's eyes narrowed as he got up from his seat and walked towards Petyr. "Are you accusing me of something, Petyr?" He asked, blowing smoke in his face. "Because if you are, at least have the balls to just say it."

Petyr regarded Rafael with a blank expression before a smirk twitched across his lips. "Fine: I think it's you, Rafael. I think you set us up. You're just some foreign contractor hired by the Queen to infiltrate insurgent groups and build them up, so they can be torn down all at once. That's what I think."

The Revolutionary smirked before he immediately kneed the man in the stomach and twisted one of his arms behind his back.

"How dare you accuse me of working for an oppressor you cabrón! I grew up under a tyrant and I sent them fleeing the country with their tail between their legs, I have hung more traitors in my time than you've had chest colds, and I'll be a dead man before I let myself get slandered by an arrogant little shit like you!"

He took his cigar out of his mouth and pressed the hot part into the side of his eye.

"Do we have an understanding?"

Petyr hissed in pain, but then...he started to laugh. His body shook with mirth, and before Rafael could react, he'd pushed himself off the ground and out of his grasp. He turned to face Rafael and had, of all things, what appeared to be a cookie in his hand.

"Didn't take much to get you bent out of shape, did it?" he sneered, letting out another laugh. "Always so prideful and predictable, you lot. And to think, you're just a wannabe Ultimate!"

Ian gaped openly at him, caught off guard by his sudden change, but Alya was quicker to react. She aimed her rifle squarely at Petyr, pausing only to wait for Rafael's instructions.

Rafael pointed his gun at him, with a slightly confused expression.

"Where did that cookie... never mind." He shook his head, recomposing himself. "So... you're the traitor. What made you betray us? Despair? The Queen? Or are you just a slimy little cocksucker who valued money over freedom?"

"Ha, as if I ever cared about your cause. The Queen caught wind of your little group and was in need of a little espionage, and I just happened to be in the neighborhood. But, I really should introduce myself properly: the name's Menghini. Zetico Menghini, at your service!" Zetico declared, giving a flourishing little bow. "Fighting for Crown and Country...just this once, at least. After all, it was a good way to get an in with the Queen...but! That's neither here nor there."

He reached into a pocket and proceeded to pull out...a cannoli. "Hey, Alya! I'm not gonna finish my lunch, why don't you have it?"

That said, he casually tossed the cannoli behind him. Alya, looking just as confused as Rafael, simply sidestepped the thrown pastry. That proved to be a fatal mistake however: the cannoli exploded once it hit the floor, and the resulting shrapnel killed Alya Rivers in moments.

A millisecond later, Zetico tossed his cookie onto the floor: it burst open and smoke flooded the room, clouding everyone's vision.

The Revolutionary coughed as he squinted to try and spot Zetico in the smoke but to little success.

"La madre que te parió!" He cursed. "Alexander! Ian! Where did that bastard go!?"

The room was eerily silent for a long moment: no one responded to Rafael at all. Then, Zetico rushed out of the smoke and proceeded to tackle him, sending them both tumbling to the ground. He held a pastry brush in one hand—although the brush itself had been replaced with the blade of a knife—and thrust it down at Rafael as he tried to stab him!

Rafael moved his head to the side at great speed, dodging the blade that stabbed into the wooden floor behind him and kicked him off of him. Rolling away and realizing that his gun had been knocked out of his hands, he reached for the knife on his belt and held it in front of him in a reverse grip.

"Alright, you want to dance? Let's dance you son of a bitch!" He shouted as he lunged towards Zetico with a strike aimed at his neck.

Zetico ducked at the last minute, rolling to the side as he dodged Rafael's swipe. "Ooh, you're a tricky one I see! Been a while since I had a good workout like this! In fact, that probably woulda been back in the Summer of '17...I was fighting this Swedish bodybuilder in the midst of a typhoon. Man, was that a challenge! I ended up killing the guy, but I got sick with pneumonia for a week. But enough about that..."

Zetico reached behind him and seemed to pull a pie out of thin air. "I'm feeling a little hungry for dessert, how 'bout you?!"

That said, he tossed the pie towards Rafael. When it was halfway there, the pie suddenly burst open, and an electrified net sprung open to entrap him.

The Revolutionary's eyes widened in disbelief, but at the last moment he threw himself to the side, dodging the net.

"What are you, the fucking muffin man or something!?" He shouted as he stood in a defensive stance. "What kind of soldier uses fucking pastries!?"

"And who said I was a soldier? I'm the Professional Agent, I'll have you know!" Zetico retorted.

He took a step closer to Rafael but was thrown off balance when the wall next to them suddenly exploded. A team of men dressed in black flooded into the room, aiming assault rifles at the duo.

"Drop your weapons, now! Drop 'em!" the apparent ringleader demanded, cocking his gun for emphasis.

Zetico paused, looking around at the new challengers, before focusing back on Raf. "Friends of yours?"

Rafael grit his teeth, before ducking behind a wall on pure instinct, barely dodging the bullets that fired a moment later.

"What do you fucking think!? You think I like getting shot at!?" He shouted from behind cover.

Zetico had likewise dived into cover, using a turned over chair to shield himself. He didn't bother answering Rafael and instead glanced over towards this mysterious third party. "Well, things just got a lot more interesting here..."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his silenced pistol: although the gun itself was modified to look like a croissant. "Well, time to party like it's 1999! Let's dance!"

* * *

The wafting scent of food was the first thing that stirred Yumei Mao awake. Well, actually, that wasn't true: the sensation of _morning sickness_ was what actually woke her up, and as such, she spent a good ten minutes in the bathroom recovering from that. The glorious smell of home-cooked food, however, perked her up and made her smile with delight.

After finishing up in the bathroom, she made her way through the Woch household, and toward the dining room. She smiled widely at Elizabeth and Sote Woch as they settled in for breakfast, the food already waiting on the table.

Yumei took a seat across from them, laying a hand gingerly across her pregnant belly. "Good morning! My, breakfast smells heavenly today, I must say!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear it, dear. I know it seems like it's getting rough but we have some good news," the older woman explained as she looked over to her husband.

The man nodded as he turned to face Yumei and adjusted his glasses. "Yes we do, Liz and I remember all to well about needing help from our parents once Tonbe was born," Sote explained, he stopped for a moment at the mention of his son's name before forcing himself to continue. "So we've decided to go on leave for a while since your due date will be here before we know it."

Yumei's smile faltered slightly at the mention of Tonbe's name. Still, she nodded, beaming happily at the two. "Thank you both! Truly! This...well, I was definitely hoping you would both be around for the birth when the time comes."

Yumei paused abruptly, looking down in surprise as she felt a foreign movement within her body. Her smile brightened even further, and she lightly patted her stomach. "It seems the twins are happy about this too! I just felt them kicking!"

Elizabeth stood up and moved to kneel beside the girl with a smile. She gently placed her hand on top of Yumei's and felt the movements of her grandchildren. "We wouldn't dare leave you on your own for this. I was only a few years older than you are now, not even out of college, when I meet a smooth-talking Woch man."

Sote started laughing as he picked up his fork to return to digging into his food. "I suppose we'll have to keep an eye out if either of those two is a boy. At this rate the next Woch will be the hit with the girls in grade school."

Yumei couldn't help but giggle in response, shooting Sote a wry look as she nodded. "Believe me, I'll be keeping a sharp eye on them when they're at that age! Especially if one or both of the twins are boys. Even a budding Casanova is no match against a determined mother."

Or a well-meaning Grand Master, as had been her case. Not all the monks of her monastery had been grown, men. Boys her own age, mostly fellow orphans, had also trained at the Temple. And when she had reached puberty...well, suffice to say, Grand Master Mao had watched her like a hawk. No amount of preaching about chastity or abstaining from earthly pleasures had done much to curb their own desires at that age, much to the Grand Master's vexation. It hadn't helped that she'd been the only woman in the temple at all, as well. My, it had been so amusing to see the other boys get into a tizzy trying to impress her, or earn her favor—

And they were all dead. Every single last one of them.

Yumei's smile abruptly vanished, as her nostalgic musings screeched to a halt. Her hand shook slightly, as the vivid memories of that awful night surged through her mind. And those memories were all the more impactful today, given this was the anniversary of her temple's massacre.

She suddenly clenched her fist, and took in a breath of calming air. Forcing the memories out of her mind, she went back to eating her breakfast, hoping her guardians hadn't noticed her slip.

To her luck, it seemed that while her mind was wandering off, Elizabeth had returned to her own meal and the two didn't seem to be looking at her. As the three continued their meal outside to some small talk it had mostly quieted down, which unfortunately kept letting Yumei's mind wander back to those painful memories.

Once the meal was winding down to an end, Sote stood up and picked up Elizabeth's plate. "Allow me, love. Oh and Yumei, Liz made some extra if you or the twins want any more."

Yumei forced a smile back onto her face and nodded at them both. "Thank you very much! I might have some later. Right now, I think I'll go back to my room and meditate a little."

That said, Yumei got up herself, and took her leave. It didn't take long for her to reach her room, and once she did, she gingerly sat herself down on her bed. The physical limitations of her pregnancy made training harder and more impractical with the passing months, but thankfully meditation wasn't as hard to manage. And today of all days, she certainly needed to do _something_ to take her focus away from those awful memories...

That in mind, Yumei closed her eyes and slowed her breath, listening only to the beating of her own heart. Letting the encompassing silence of her room clear her mind of all thoughts, negative and positive alike.

As the thoughts washed over the monk an inner fire sparked, roared and rose inside of her. As Yumei grit her teeth, the fire didn't try to wrestle control and instead began to take the shape of a dragon that whispered to the young woman. _"Another year passes, and what do you have to show for it? Bastard children and your lover's blood on your hands. To think you could find a way to upset your master even more."_

Yumei furrowed her brow, grimacing as the tauntings of the Dragon invaded her mind. It had been a long while since she had last felt this unwanted side of her stir...but of course, it would rear its ugly head today of all days. After all, today also marked the anniversary of the Dragon's birth.

"Go back to the black depths you spawned from! I won't let you infect me with your hate any longer," Yumei heatedly whispered in reply. She knew it was foolish of course, counter-productive even, but she couldn't help herself. "Besides, you're the reason my children have no father. I'll never forgive myself for what I did to Tonbe...and we both know that."

_"Forgive yourself? Why do you waste time on forgiveness when you already know what you truly need? If you would just let go of your weakness, all you need is to embrace me. And why stop there, I could even empower the children too,"_ the dragon mused lowly. Its voice had an ominous joy to it as it mentioned the twins, sending a shiver down Yumei's spine for just a moment.

"Don't you touch them!" Yumei hissed, her eyes flashing open in anger. And just like that, her attempt at meditation was broken. The coy tendrils of the Dragon disappeared from her mind...but so too did any chance of attaining peace that moment.

Yumei breathed heavily, clutching at her stomach as her heart raced. Though the Dragon's presence was gone, it's words lingered still, sending shivers of fear throughout her body.

"...I'm sorry, Tonbe. I'm so sorry," Yumei finally choked out, as tears gathered in her eyes. She cried softly into her hands, her body wracked with sobs as her fear gave way to guilt.

* * *

_Welcome, one and all, to the first of a series of vignettes! I wanted to do something special for Prisons, and I thought these interludes would be a great way to introduce the cast. Hope you enjoy!_

_And special thanks to Petty, Trust, JC, and Super for helping write this chapter!_


	3. SHADOW IS THE LIGHT

In the countryside of Japan, there rested an old, dilapidated dojo. Once a premier school of martial arts, the Tragedy had seen the dojo fall apart. Its Master was slain, the students fled, and the place ultimately became abandoned. And even when the prodigal son of the dojo had finally returned...he had failed to restore it. After all, Takehiko Kioi was no carpenter: he had tried to make some makeshift repairs to the place, but it had been a shoddy effort.

Perhaps it was for the best, however. The Kioi Family Dojo was in no shape to take on any new students: not that Takehiko was willing to train anybody, for that matter. And because of that, he was able to enjoy a relatively peaceful and quiet existence. After escaping that tomb of misery, it had been nice to return to someplace familiar and isolated.

It was not to last, however. For as Takehiko got up for the day and prepared to start the first of his morning exercises, he heard the soft echo of voices coming from the dojo courtyard…

"See I told you, boss, this place is nice and empty," a voice casually explained. The sound of footsteps filled the main hall of the dojo as different people made their way into the old building. "I mean sure it's not in great shape but no one is going to go looking for us way the hell out here."

"I don't know, Ryo, something seems wrong. Doesn't this seem to clean to be abandoned?" a different person replied. After the man spoke the various people stopped moving around.

After some tense moments, one person seemed to start walking again, making their way into the center of the room. As they started to talk, they did so louder than the others around them. "Regardless, we know there aren't any people coming here, so any squatter or bum would be smart to get out of here before we find them."

Takehiko heard the voices clear as day, though he made no move to intercept them. Instead, he stayed on the floor in a meditative position, waiting for the trespassers to find him. And sure enough, the trio stumbled upon him: it was inevitable, after all. Takehiko was in the central training area of the dojo, perhaps the largest room in the entire complex.

Takehiko stared up balefully at the surprised thieves. For now, he remained on the floor...but already, he was preparing his body to spring into action. "You are trespassing in my home. This is your only warning. Leave now, and you will live to see another day."

Of the three thieves, the largest of them stepped in front of the man, while his friends made their way around the room. "Really? The way I see it you're trespassing in our base of operations. But I seem to recall giving our warning already," the muscular man explained as he began cracking his knuckles.

The other two guys chuckled and took their positions surrounding Takehiko. One had a pistol at his hip but was currently holding tightly onto his crowbar, while the other gripped onto a short sword.

Takehiko nodded to himself once, and slowly stood up, exposing his full, towering height. In comparison, he dwarfed the thieves by quite a bit: they were all at least a full foot shorter than him. And as they registered that fact, Takehiko could see a flicker of doubt flash across one of their faces.

It was too late for them now, however. They'd already made their choice.

With lighting fast reflexives, his hand shot out and grasped the head of the thief with the sword. He lifted the screaming thief with ease, and swung him around like a battering ram, knocking him right into the one wielding the crowbar.

The man barely had any time to process what was happening before his friend crashed into him, and the two sprawled out on the floor. The pistol clatter against the floor tiles and slid out of the man's grasp. The thief who had been thrown was clutching at his face, still screaming in pain. Thinking he had an opening the last standing thief rushed at Takehiko taking a wild swing at him. Unfortunately, even though his fist connected against the giant's chest, it clearly had no effect outside of getting attention shifted back onto him.

Takehiko glanced down at the sole standing thief, scowling in distaste as he, rather pathetically, tried to strike him. Of course, it had no effect: it was like a mouse trying to take down an elephant. It simply wasn't going to happen.

He reached down, wordlessly grabbing the lead thief's hand with his own, before he chopped down with his free hand. The force of his blow immediately broke the thief's arm, snapping the bone cleanly in two. And as the man howled in pain, Takehiko let him go, only to smash his fist into the thief's face, breaking his nose and sending him crashing through a nearby wall.

While Takehiko dealt with his friend, the man with the crowbar finally threw the other guy off from on top of him. The guy for his part was still whimpering as he clutched his face. As the man shakily stood up, he looked towards his gun, before he shot a look back towards the karateka towering above him. He felt his whole body freeze as Takehiko looked down at him with contempt.

Takehiko practically sneered down at the thief, pausing only to wind his hand back, before thrusting his fist as hard into his stomach as he could manage. A pained groan wheezed its way from the thief, and he collapsed, clutching at his stomach. Once he was on the ground, Takehiko simply raised his foot, and stomped down hard on the man's head, immediately crushing it, and showering the floor with blood and gore.

As Takehiko lifted up his foot and kicked the air to help clean it off, he looked to the hole in the wall he had sent the one man through. When he didn't hear anything and saw his limp body, the giant turned his focus back to the final thief pathetically cowering before him, he still clutched his face and groaned in pain.

Silently Takehiko rose his foot again, planning to finish him off, but was caught off guard as the man changed before his eyes. Suddenly he didn't see the wannabe thief anymore, instead of lying in front of him was the gold-clad form of the once Ultimate Luchadora, her face buried in her hands pathetically trying to cover her face. "My mask... pl-please..."

Takehiko froze, his eyes widening in disbelief. He blinked his eyes rapidly, and the figure of Vibora was gone, replaced by the cowering thief. He didn't move to strike him though: instead, he slowly lowered his foot.

"Leave, now, and never come back."

After a few moments, the man slowly got to his feet and practically stumbled out of the room, his face still covered by his hands. Takehiko sighed as he turned his back but stopped when he was facing back to a shrine set up at the end of the room. Standing there was a much older man, his grey hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and a long black robe covering his red kimono.

"I see you are not completely controlled by your anger, son,"

Takehiko felt his heart speed up at the sight of his late father. He knew it wasn't real of course...just some trick conjured up by his mind. Still, he couldn't help but respond to the apparition all the same. "I did only what was necessary. Those men sought to defile the Kioi Dojo."

"No, Ultimate Despair were the ones that sought to defile the dojo. Those men seemed to just be looking for a place to stay, violent as they may have been, though as you proved not nearly the most violent person here," Takeou explained as he crossed his arms.

"If you truly believe that killing them was the only choice then you have no claim to this place either," his father stated as he stared at his son disappointedly.

Takehiko's eyes flashed with anger, and before he realized it, he'd taken a swing at his father. Of course, it passed through the air harmlessly, and the apparition disappeared from sight.

He stared at the space where it had been for a long time, before finally turning his eyes away. He looked back over the carnage he had wrought and sighed to himself.

It seemed like he had some bodies to bury now.

* * *

Attending any sort of support group was never an easy thing to do: especially when it was a Despair Survivor group. It didn't help that Skyline Academy had made their attendance in this support group mandatory. But, for better or for worse, that was what Kotomi Sanada and Dayaveer Atal were doing.

Perhaps such a thing might have been easier if Dayaveer and Kotomi were friends...but in reality, they hardly knew each other. They were in different classes and ran in different social circles. Really, the only thing they had in common was that they were both survivors of a Killing Game. Well, that, and they were both students at Skyline Academy, of course.

"Kotomi, you're being awfully quiet over there," the group therapist, one Doctor Sophea Kaliyanei, opined. The session had been going along relatively smoothly, all things considered, but Kotomi herself had remained silent. "Is there anything you'd like to say, perhaps?"

"There is nothing I wish to share as of right now. I would rather keep the things that happened in the past. It's far too fresh for me to openly speak of it," the young woman replied, turning away from the therapist, arms crossed. She heard a few of the others present mumble things under their breath, but she paid them no mind. "I apologize, but you did say we could share when we were ready, correct? I am not prepared, so I shall remain silent for now. That is agreeable, yes?"

"That is true, yes. However, there is a difference between not being ready to share, and being unwilling to do so," she pointed out. "We are all survivors of Despair here. You and Dayaveer are unique in that you both went through a Killing Game, of course...but that doesn't change the fact we all share something in common."

"I couldn't agree more, Doctor!" Dayaveer chimed in, an approving smile on his face. The Ace Assistant, or Ace Hero as he liked to refer to himself, nodded emphatically. "We're only trying to help here, Kotomi."

"I have made myself clear have I not? I do not wish to speak of those events, even if there is another survivor here." she spat, glaring at the boy. "We may converse and we speak of our trauma all we would like, but that does not and will not change things. This is my choice and I would appreciate it if you would respect it!"

"Yes, of course, Kotomi. It is your choice, at the end of the day. However, it's not the best path to take when considering your rehabilitation," Doctor Kaliyanei replied, giving a small shrug. "Still, I suppose you've made your point. We don't have to talk about your experience...perhaps something else instead? It can be whatever you want."

"I don't have anything to share I'm afraid," she said hastily, grabbing a hold of her necklace. She continued looking from the others.

"Ugh, why is this bitch here again? I get that this mandated by the school but she clearly doesn't give a shit!" a boy snapped, causing the ravenette to glare at him. He grit his teeth in anger, directing his glare at the young cosmetologist. "We're all here to talk about our issues. So stop acting like you are holier than thou. My fucking friends died in Washington, I was the only survivor of that fucking attack, Dayaveer lived through a Killing Game too. Stop being a brat and just open up already!"

"James, that is not how we do things here. We can't force someone to speak if they do not want to." the therapist said, sighing. She was about to speak when Kotomi cleared her throat, finally facing the others.

"If it will shut your mouth, then I shall share something with all of you. I enjoy post-hardcore music, it is my favorite genre. It has nothing to do with Ultimate Despair or any Killing Games, but it is one of my interests. Will that suffice?" she cried, having lost all patience. "That is all I am willing to share for now."

Doctor Kaliyanei nodded at that, before checking her watch. "Thank you very much, Kotomi. Now...why don't we take a little break for the time being? I think it'd help everyone if we took a moment to cool our heads."

There was a general agreement to that, and the group soon dispersed. Their meeting place was the basement of a church, so perhaps it wasn't a surprise that Kotomi fled upstairs to get away from everyone else. She wasn't alone, however: soon enough, Dayaveer followed after her.

He remained silent, however, merely giving Kotomi a polite nod as he rested against a wall. Content on waiting for her to speak up first if she so chose.

"I thought I told you the last time we spoke, that you must stay at least fifty meters away from me," the young woman said, glaring at the boy. Seeing his defiance only made her sigh. "Oh confound it, I don't care anymore. I've grown tired of this bullshit, speak your mind. I know you have quite a lot of things to say to me."

"Sorry, but that's one request I can't do. I wouldn't be much of an Ace Hero if I left someone in need alone, would I?" Dayaveer questioned with a slight smile. He sighed a moment later, though. "I don't like coming here any more than you do, but we have to play with the hand we've been dealt. Besides, it doesn't help anyone if you keep trying to remain silent."

"Ideally, I don't want to remain silent. But those memories are far too painful for me to relive them. It's not that I don't want to speak it's just-" she paused, looking away from the man. "I'm scared of remembering them. I'm not aware if our game was broadcast or not... I know I'm only a victim but... I did some very disgusting things in that game. Things that I don't want to remember. Their faces, their voices... I'm not ready to see or hear them again,"

"...I understand how you feel. Truly, I do. I didn't have an easy time in my own game. Hell, my best friend died there. It's never easy, going through something like this," Dayaveer offered up, grimacing as he recalled his own game.

He paused, before looking back at Kotomi, a reassuring smile on his face. "You're not alone, however. You don't have to say anything in group if you don't want...but you can always talk to me. I really wouldn't mind. Maybe...we can help each other, in a way?"

Kotomi sighed, glancing at her feet for a few moments. She didn't say anything, mostly because she couldn't find the right words to say. After a moment, a small smile appeared on her face. She remembered something her best friend had told her once, and she didn't want to disappoint her. "Alright, I shall take your offer. It will be a bit of a challenge to get used to, but conversation comes naturally once I have a bit of tea. Besides, there are worst people I can trust."

"That's the spirit!" Dayaveer proclaimed, grinning at her brightly. "I have a good feeling about this! And speaking of tea, I happen to make a mean cup of jasmine. Perhaps I should prepare some for you next time we have the chance?"

* * *

It was a normal enough day for one Kagome Ito, the Paramount Fast Food Manager. So far things had been running smoothly in the McDonalds she managed, which she was more than pleased with. The place was reasonably busy, food was coming out in quick order, none of the customers were acting rowdy: truly, it was an ideal workday for her.

Well, mostly.

Admittedly, one of her workers hadn't come in today, which was somewhat annoying. In fact, she'd been forced to help cover his shift, which meant she was helping run the registers right now. Besides that, however, things were going just fine. The absence of one employee hurt productivity somewhat, but not to a debilitating degree.

That good feeling vanished, however, midway into her shift, in large part due to a pair of uniformed police officers walking into her restaurant. That was a decidedly less than ideal development for her.

"_I hope they're just here for lunch, the last thing I need is any police reports getting filed during my shift," _Kagome thought doing her best to hide her frown.

"Hey Emiyo, can you take over from here?" Kagome asked after finishing with the customer at the register letting her coworker take over. As she excused herself, Kagome made her way into the back, looking for anything to distract herself. "_I need to relax, my record is impeccable, so I don't have anything to worry about."_

Kagome managed to distract herself in the back by checking the stock in the freezer, but that didn't last long. After a few minutes, Emiyo knocked on the freezer door and poked her head in. "Sorry to bother you Kagome, but the police who just came in are asking to speak with the manager. They didn't say what about, though."

"All right, can you tell them to meet me in my office, please?" Kagome requested with a bow. As the cashier left, the manager sighed as she made her way over to the back office. She stood by her desk began tapping against her arm. _"This is just great, at best this still eating into our busiest time of the day, we need to have all hands on deck, thanks a lot Minoru..."_

After a minute, there was a knock at her door, and the police officers let themselves in. The senior of the two nodded politely at Kagome before they both took a seat in front of her desk. "Good afternoon, ma'am. We're terribly sorry to bother you, but we're here about an employee of yours: one Minoru Date. Has he come into work today?"

Kagome looked taken aback for a moment as she started to look worried. "No, in fact, the reason we're so busy today is that he never showed up for his shift. Didn't even call out either," she explained as she looked up at the officers. "But I'm guessing that has deeper implications since you are here, sirs."

"You're right about that, ma'am." the senior policeman replied. He eased back into his chair, giving a small sigh before going on. "A missing person's report has been filed for Minoru on behalf of his parents. According to them, Minoru never returned to his apartment last Friday, and no one saw him at all Saturday and Sunday. To say the least, this is quite troubling. As far as we can tell, the last time anyone saw Minoru was when he left for work on Friday morning."

"And we're hoping you can help us fill in that gap of time," his partner continued on. "Did Minoru report in for work last Friday? And if he did, did he leave like usual when his shift was over?"

"From what I recall yes... though I don't believe there were any incidents with him. Um... let me get the records for that day," Kagome said as she took her seat at the computer.

"You all right there, Ma'am?" one of the officers asked after a moment, just before Kagome had finished pulling up the files. "You seem a little nervous there. Were you close with Minoru?"

"Forgive me, I need to be more on top of things. I liked that Minoru was a good worker, but I never got to know him personally. It's just that after my killing game... I've had some issues with losing control of things. It's always been my job to be on top of things but, losing people..." Kagome let her sentence trail off as her mind drifted back. She shook her head and shot up out of her chair.

"Please, let me get you the camera footage, I'm sure you guys will _see_ all you need," she said in a very forceful and awkward joking manner. "Sorry, that was a terrible one even by my standards..."

The officers exchanged a look, before nodding at Kagome. The senior replied, "Thank you very much, ma'am. We're very pleased with your cooperation in this matter. And...you have my sympathies. Surviving something as horrid as a Killing Game must have been hard on you."

"Thank you, it was a very... scary experience to say the least... And please, let me know if you learn anything else about Minoru," Kagome replied giving the men a bow before she lead them out of the office.

"Of course. And if you have any more information in the future, don't hesitate to call the station. Every tip, no matter its significance, helps," the senior officer stated.

Once Kagome left and came back with copies of last week's footage, the two policemen finally left. And with their exit, it felt like a great weight had been taken off of Kagome's shoulders.

Kagome took a deep breath as she nodded her head. "_I can't believe I almost lost my nerve, thank god none of the others could see me. I feel terrible for Minoru's parents, though, since it seems like he's disappeared..." _she thought before the roar of the crowd pulled her back to the state of the restaurant.

With a nod she made her way back behind the counter, taking the register back from Emiyo and getting back into the swing of things, feeling at peace and in control despite the workload.

* * *

It had been a long series of flights, but Beatrix 'Trixie' Briedis was finally home. Or, well, close enough to it, at least. After what had gone down in Russia, it had been a relief to set foot on familiar soil, to say the least. Her parents' home was a few hours by train away from the capital of Latvia...and just her luck, her plane had arrived right after the trains had closed for the night.

It'd been annoying, but Trixie tried not to let it bother her too much. Besides, she had known her plane would _probably_ arrive too late to catch a train, so she'd booked a room in advance, so it wasn't like she had no place to go. For that matter, what difference did a few more hours of waiting really mean anyway? She'd suffered through far worse, and quite recently to boot.

So she'd just have to wait an extra night, and then...she'd be home. At least, that was the plan.

Of course, life continued to find a way to torment her. For once she reached her hotel...

"What do you _mean_ you overbooked my room?" Trixie asked of the hotel concierge, her brow twitching in faint annoyance. "How does this even happen? I booked this in advance!"

The hotel concierge peered down at her for a moment, not answering her right away as he consulted his computer. "I'm terribly sorry Miss Briedis: I don't know how this happened. There must have been a glitch in our system. I do apologize, but there's not much I can do for you right now. We're completely booked due to a convention in town. I've already informed the other occupant of your room of the situation, and she has consented to share the room with you for the night. As compensation, I'm willing to offer you both half price for your stay. I hope that will satisfy you, Miss Briedis: and again, I do apologize."

Trixie eyed him for a moment, before giving a small sigh. She'd expected trouble checking in...it wasn't uncommon for people to assume she was a minor, given her height and youthful appearance. Her ID helped clear that up most of the time, but this was an issue she hadn't anticipated.

She chewed her lip, wondering if perhaps showing a little skin might change the concierge's tune...but she dismissed the idea a second later. If they were fully booked, well, there wasn't much that could be done. And at the very least, her impromptu roommate seemed to be a woman, which was a little relieving.

"Very well. I suppose that'll have to do," she agreed a moment later.

Trixie took her key from the concierge, then picked up her luggage and made her way to the elevator. She got off on the third floor and made her way to room 319. Once there, she inserted the keycard and opened the door.

"Oh, hello! You must be my roommate for the night, though considering the way you're dressed, I wouldn't have been surprised if you claimed to be the call girl that I never called. Fufufu, I wonder what you have hidden underneath that coat of yours? Something rather risqué, no doubt." Luminisa Lupei—who was down to her black bra and in the middle of removing her skirt—barely gave Trixie any room to breathe as she sauntered over to her. Her shadow eclipsed the smaller girl. "My, my, you're a small one, aren't you?"

Trixie didn't understand what happened at first. One moment, she opened the door and stepped into the room...the next, This giantess of a woman had towered over her. She couldn't help but step back a little, tilting her head further and further back until she had a proper view of the stranger's face. And when she saw her...

Words failed Trixie at that moment. She simply gaped and stared up at Lumi, taking in her striking, beautiful features...as well as adjusting to the fact her roommate was partially undressed. Her eyes couldn't help but wander down to what was exposed, as she drank in the sight of the towering woman.

"Holy shit you're tall," Trixie finally blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, and she immediately regretted it. Her cheeks tinged pink, and she desperately searched for a way to salvage this introduction.

"I-I mean, I-I'm no call girl, but I certainly could be yours if you really wanted," she proclaimed, trying to mask her embarrassment with a sultry smirk. At the same time, she reached down to unbutton the gray trench coat she wore and opened it up. The pink tube top and miniskirt she wore underneath were revealed: as was a great deal of bare skin, given how little her outfit covered up.

Lumi covered her mouth with a single hand and couldn't help but let out a puff of a giggle. She tilted her head and, after appraising the girl, wrapped her fingers around Trixie's hips before hoisting her high into the air. "Goodness, you're certainly forward, aren't you? Yes, yes you are!" she cooed at the girl as if she were a lost animal. "How cute. I didn't realize this hotel offered a puppy petting service."

"What—what you are—this isn't—stop it! Put me down! I am _not_ a child!" Trixie thundered, her face rapidly heating up as she squirmed to get out of Lumi's grasp. "Put me down right now!"

"Oh dear, it seems that would be the best course of action." Lumi let the girl down onto her feet as requested, but wasted no time as she began to pet Trixie's head and ruffle her already messy hair with both hands. "After all, I can't play with you if my palms are too busy holding you up! You really are quite effective as a stress-relief toy. I can almost forgive those naughty machines for mixing up my flight destination now, fufufu!"

Trixie felt her eye start to twitch violently, as she glared up at her. After a moment, she sucked in a harsh breath of air and tried to calm herself down.

Keyword being _tried_.

"...Can you please take your hands off of my head? I'm sure they could be put to better use than this," she finally said. "I'm Trixie, by the way. Trixie Briedis. And you are?"

Lumi relented with her hands, but only so she could cup her own face in them. "No, no, that won't do at all. I do believe I am deserving of a more proper introduction than that. Trixie isn't your full name, is it? Mine is Luminisa Lupei, though now that we're friends, you may call me Lumi. Perhaps my reputation precedes me? Don't be shy to admit it if you're familiar with my work!" Her close-lipped smile was as gentle as it was smug.

Trixie felt her eye twitch again as she stared at the smug look on Lumi's lips. Still, she tried to keep her voice light and civil as she replied. "Fine: I am Beatrix Briedis, but I go by Trixie. Maybe you've heard of _me_? I don't know who you are, but I'm quite famous in certain circles on the Internet."

With that, she gave Lumi another sultry, suggestive smile. At the same time though, she couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. Luminisa Lupei...where has she heard that name before? It sounded vaguely familiar.

For the first time since meeting each other, distaste flickered across Lumi's features at the mention of a certain word. She folded her arms with a light huff. "_The Internet,_ you say? No, I can't say I'd have heard of you in that case. Why would I want to turn my brain into mush on this so-called _Internet_ when I could be enjoying the company of a good book? It seems that today's youth is ever so wayward when mindless entertainment is what they waste away all their time on."

"Oh, so you're one of _those_ people, huh?" Trixie sneered, snickering slightly as she raised a hand to her lips. "Sorry, Grandma, I didn't mean to offend your _delicate_ sensibilities. Still, I'll take my adoring fans any day over your dreary books. I bet you're the type who says video games lead to real-life violence, or that D&D leads to Satanism."

"Heavens, no. I'm just concerned the flock is being led astray from truly educating material. Believe me, a proper education is ever so important," Lumi mused before tapping a finger on her chin. "Which would pertain to you, in particular, dear Trixie. Based on several clues, I've come to the conclusion you're one of those naughty little girls who skip out on classes in order to bask in the praise of middle-aged men—or underaged boys—who would never see the pale of a woman's thighs otherwise. Hmm, what was the terminology that I once heard? Camgirl? Twitch Thot?"

Trixie rolled her eyes a little but was otherwise unaffected by what Lumi said. After all, people had called her far worse over the years. "Yes, you're right. I happen to be the Star Webcam Model: that was the title the Saint Petersburg Academy gave me, at least."

Lumi replied with a small, congratulatory clap. "Oh my! Of course, I'm faking my surprise since I could already tell, but it still pleases me to know I'm in the presence of a like-minded talent. I was once known as the Professional Erotic Novelist...though it's become a bit of a defunct title."

With a weary smile, Lumi unclipped her skirt and continued to undress until she was down to her lacy undergarments. "Dear me, we've been bantering for quite a while, haven't we? I think I'll be heading to bed now—beauty sleep is not something to be denied. You've just arrived, so you may wish to take a shower before joining me." She gestured at the sole bed in the room.

Trixie blinked, before glancing at the bed. Oh, right. She'd just requested a single bed...so of course, they'd be sharing it now. At any rate, she gave a simple little nod and went off into the bathroom.

Half an hour later, she strutted out of the bathroom feeling clean and refreshed. Now dressed in what could _charitably_ be called underwear—a pair of heart-shaped pasties that covered her nipples, and a pink thong—Trixie walked over to the bed, pausing briefly as she stretched out her back; thrusting out her non-existent chest as a result. "Well, I think I'm ready for bed!"

Wrapped like a burrito underneath the blanket, Lumi was the very picture of comfort. She stared at the girl with drowsy, half-lidded eyes before wriggling around to free up some space. "It's quite fortunate you're so small, otherwise, we two would never fit together on this teensy bed. Hmm, that's a rather interesting choice of sleepwear...I should take some notes first thing tomorrow morning..."

"Well, I'm glad you like it! Unfortunately for you, you can look, but you can't touch," Trixie proclaimed with a haughty smirk. A moment later she pulled back the sheets, climbing into bed with Lumi. "Not that I think you would. You strike me as the type who lives vicariously through others sex lives."

"Oh, how deeply wounding this child's words are. So much so, I can hardly muster a response in my sleep-addled state!" Lumi giggled mockingly. "Say, little Trixie, you seem to have a fair sense of humor. Would you like to hear a bedtime joke? No need to answer—I'm going to share it regardless of whether or not you accept. Ahem. What did Cinderella do when she got to the ball? She gagged."

Trixie snorted in response, unable to help herself. She rolled her eyes yet again and settled into the bed. "That was an awful joke, and you should feel awful. Now, good night, Lumi."

* * *

_With special thanks to Cel, PettyPunk, and Trust for helping to write this chapter._


	4. WONDERFUL NEW WORLD

Now, this was the life: a drink in one hand, a cigar in her mouth, and her cards in her free hand. Not to mention she was winning this game of poker quite well! It was close to the last round now, and she'd managed to beat most of her opponents. All in all, it was a great night for her so far. All that was really missing from the picture was a pretty girl (or guy) in her lap. Speaking of which...

"Sure I can't convince you to switch seats? I'm sure it'd be _very_ comfortable," Kaiten proclaimed with a grin, as she glanced over at the woman sat next to her. One Kogo Rukki, the Paramount Charm.

"Um, no I think I'm fine with right here. Let's just keep playing, okay?" Kogo asked awkwardly as her cheeks started to heat up. She sighed as she shifted in her seat. The indigo haired girl looked back down at her cards and frowned. "I... still have no idea how this game works."

"And yet, you've done pretty well so far. Maybe that good luck will start to rub off on me, eh?" Kaiten suggested, giving Kogo a small wink.

Before she could speak any further though, the time to reveal their cards had come. With a grin she placed her hands down, eliciting a series of groans from her opponents. "A royal flush! I'd like to see any of you chucklefucks beat that!"

"I only have a pair of eights. I probably should have just folded," Kogo muttered as she tossed down her cards. After she took a drink of her tea she looked back over to Kaiten. "So Kai, did you really only invite me out just to use my luck?"

"Whaaat? Noooo, of course not!" Kaiten replied rather unconvincingly. She grinned all the same though, and as the next set of cards were dealt, she reached over to place a hand on Kogo's knee. "Well, maybe a little, but I also wanted to enjoy your company. Anything wrong with wanting a little eye candy? Besides, I think we make a great team together, don't you?"

The paramount charm began fretting with her braid as she looked away. "Yeah, I guess our talent's do work well... Honestly, I'm just glad to be out again. I didn't know what to expect when I first started going to those Despair Survivor meetings, but it has been nice to make friends again."

"Yeah, it's given me the chance to meet a lot of interesting people if nothing else: including a total cutie like you!" Kaiten loftily replied. "And you get to see a genius at play here. I think we're both getting something pretty sweet out of this deal!"

"You know one of the teachers at Mochizuki Academy did always joke that if I really wanted to work on my talent I should consider taking up gambling, and it's kinda thrilling. But it seems pretty scary to do this for a living," the Charm explained. She looked down at Kaiten's hand that was still on her knee, before moving to pick up her new cards, trying her best to not make any reactions to seeing them.

Kaiten smiled wolfishly at Kogo, before finally removing her hand and focusing on her own cards. She nodded softly to herself. "It can definitely be scary, and dangerous depending on who you're playing with, but it's all worth it in the end. Nothing quite like the thrill of a hard-earned victory!"

"Yes, but in order for one person to win big, everyone else has to lose..." Kogo said she shifted her gaze around them to the many different patrons of the casino, all with several different moods and feelings. "I've always wanted to have a more adventurous life but this kind of place crushes most people's dreams."

"Ah, but that's what makes it fun! Beating your opponents, taking the pot all for yourself...not to mention the risk of losing it all! That's what gambling is all about! Really, life in general too: after all, there are winners and losers in life, in general. Not everyone is able to be a winner: I mean, look at us. We're both Talented people: practically the best of the best!" Kaiten pointed out rather jovially. "In a sense, we've both really won the lottery of life by being Talented. And you...well, you're most definitely a winner in terms of your looks!"

Then, without a hint of shame, Kaiten reached over to slip her hand behind Kogo's lower back to grope her rear.

Kogo squeaked in surprise as she roughly shot out of her seat. Just as she did this, however, Kogo bumped into the waitress who was walking by. This caused the tray of drinks she had to fly off onto the poker table. Glass and hard liquor splashed around, hitting everywhere except for the Pyrrhic High Roller's cards.

In the aftermath of all of it stood Kogo who looked overwhelmed. Once she saw the tripped over woman starting to get up, Kogo shook herself back to action and helped the waitress stand up. She offering a stream of apologies the whole time, to the other players as well.

Kaiten couldn't help but snicker to herself, amused by the spectacle. And with everyone focusing on Kogo, she found it all too easy to replace part of her hand with the cards she had hidden up her sleeve.

Kaiten couldn't help but muse that they really did make for a great pair.

* * *

Futaba Imajuku, the Ultimate Anthropologist, sighed to herself as she browsed her notes, resisting the urge to scratch the stitches that lined either side of her mouth. Her wounds were still in the process of healing, and annoying as the stitches were, it was far better than picking at her injury and making it any worse. Really, given the current state of the United States, and the world at large really, she was lucky she'd received halfway decent medical care. She'd be left with scarring once the stitches were removed, but a facial disfigurement was a worthy price to pay for her continued survival.

At the moment, she'd set up shop in a midsized city along the Eastern Coast of America: largely unremarkable aside from the fact most civil authorities had disintegrated in the city. It wasn't an ideal place to base her safe house, but it was conveniently located near her latest target of study, so, for now, it would suffice as her temporary home.

Her safe house itself was an abandoned office building: a call center, from the look of the place. It'd been deserted when she'd been out shopping for a place to crash, and while it hadn't been the most appealing home, it had been fairly isolated and far away from most of the conflict zones in the city. Overall, it was a perfect place for her to rest when she wasn't out and about.

It wasn't completely isolated, however: despite her attempts to keep a low profile, word had spread of her presence in the city. Futaba had had her fair share of visitors...and when she heard someone enter the building and approach her office, she wordlessly reached into her desk and pulled out a pistol. She leveled it forward, not even bothering to look up at her visitor as she instead browsed through her notes.

"You have one minute to state your business. If I am not satisfied with your reason for visiting, I will not hesitate to open fire. And if this is Councilman Tanner, for the last time, I will not pay your 'property taxes'. I don't care how many men with guns you threaten me with, I am not going to buy into your glorified protection racket."

There was a soft chuckle from the being who had entered the room. "I had heard that Hope's Peak graduates were an odd bunch. Didn't know a person could draw so much attention to themselves while trying to remain hidden."

The young lady leaned against the doorway, popping one of her feet as she took a casual stance, despite a pistol pointed at her. "But I'm eating away at my minute, aren't I? My name is Auryon Mercelina, and I am a bounty hunter... of sorts. I'm here because I need help tracking down a violent predator who has been eluding me, mostly because I don't know what is truly guiding their fiendish mind."

Auryon flicked her raven hair behind her shoulder as she reached into her jacket pocket, and pulled out a small envelope. "Photos, documents, and a short list of clues I've compiled, all here, all for you to help me analyze...

"If, and pardon me if I come off as a bit of a _puta_, but only if you want to help me find that evil monster who tried to kill you, Miss Imajuku."

Futaba narrowed her eyes, finally looking up at her visitor. She studied Auryon with a cool, impassive gaze before slowly nodding her head. At the same time, she slowly placed her gun down but didn't stow it away completely. "Very well, then. You have my attention, Miss Mercelina. Speak your peace."

"Thank you. I don't know much about the killer, and I had thought for a long time that it may just be some Despair-riddled maniac; however, I realized that there may be a sense of culture behind these attacks and murders..."

Auryon pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Futaba's desk. There was a certain amount of poise to this young lady like she was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Her eyes were focused, her movements direct. Thus, she didn't just chuck the envelope on the desk like a pushy presentation.

Opening the contents and placing them in an organized manner in front of Futaba, Auryon pointed to them as she spoke. "Despair doesn't have a culture to it, as far as I see, so I was wondering about some of these details. If you'll look here..."

Auryon talked as she motioned to the several photographs, small points in the documents, and even a couple of hand-written notes. Two of those notes appeared to be horrific messages scrawled out by an insane person, something that was known to be left on victims. It was rather curious how she could have gotten them...

But as she spoke, the steeliness in her eyes was there. The determination was laser-focused on getting to the bottom of this.

Futaba studied the gathered evidence with a keen eye, humming to herself thoughtfully. After flipping through a few gruesome pictures, she finally looked back up at Auryon. "You are right; there is something off here. I'm still studying the Despair movement in a wider sociological and psychological context...so I cannot judge all this on my knowledge of Despair. However..."

She turned her gaze back to a particular photograph: the displayed body of a dead young woman. "Tell me, have all the victims of this killer been female?"

Auryon was silent for a moment, then tapped the two messages written out. "Not officially. You see, I've been hunting this person for a long time, since during the Tragedy. During that time, in my town, there was no law enforcement to help us, no justice..."

The woman took a deep breath, correcting herself after that moment. Her eyes fluttered, and she said, "Forgive me, it was a very trying time. But I can tell you, the killer has two males. That's where they started, back in my hometown.

"I was thinking that this killer could be Despair-riddled, but there's usually a pattern, just like with, and I'd hate to say this, 'normal' serial killers. That's why I came to you because an anthropologist would recognize what I cannot."

"So I see..." Futaba murmured softly to herself, her free hand briefly touching her stitches. "And all the female victims also have Glasgow smiles. Yes, there is definitely a pattern here. My knowledge of Despair and their ilk may be lacking...but, I am well versed in the study of psychopathy and serial killers. And this whole case smacks of a serial killer running amok."

She paused, reaching up to briefly clean her glasses, before focusing back on Auryon. "However, there is more to this than most of the victims being women. There must be a more specific pattern here...something tying these people together. Tell me, do they share any sort of similarities? Anything that, in some way, connect these people together? Familial status? Appearance? Age? Shared history? Or perhaps...social status?"

Auryon blinked and rubbed her chin. "Hmmm... I don't think there was anything about appearance or age... there's no connection between the victims knowing each other... but... wait."

The huntress glanced to the side, as she tried hard to remember something. "I think the first victim, he was a businessman. He had a suit on, a nice one, and there was evidence of his watch being slashed off of his body. Like someone wanted to destroy it as well as hurt him...

"And the second victim was a lawyer. Nice suit too, he might have been rich; I remember he was successful, from what I gathered about him. There wasn't much to go on those days, I didn't really notice a pattern..."

Auryon paused for a second, and then asked cautiously, "Do you think... this killer is going after successful people?"

"Hm, it's entirely possible. In fact..." Futaba leaned forward, folding her hands together as she rested her chin against them. "I would theorize that this killer did not care about gender at first, but once they started killing women, they seemed to become fixated on them. Presuming that they are all wealthy or of high social status...then your killer is obsessed with the rich and successful. They are jealous of them, covet their success, and wish to take their anger out on them."

"No doubt, this is the reason I was targeted as well. Ultimates are minor celebrities of a sort, after all. And with this evidence in mind...I would theorize your killer is a woman herself. Her fixation on killing other women is evidence of that. She has become incredibly envious of women who are more successful than her: she wants to take away everything that gives them their power, and render them as damaged and powerless as she herself feels. She both wants to have what these women have, and burn it all down at the same time. That, more than anything else, is what is now driving her to kill."

Auryon rubbed her chin and then nodded slowly as she listened to Futaba's explanation. Her eyes were brimming with a kind of fire, growing as realization dawned on her.

"That fits everything so perfectly," she whispered. "All the signs, I cannot believe I missed them! Thank you so much, Futaba, you've helped me out so much."

She stood up, taking a deep breath as if she had made her mind up about something. Her smile was rather cool, as was her tone when she spoke. "If you would like, you can keep those. Should something happen to me, you are the one person who could be trusted to handle this monster."

"Very well. I'll keep a close eye on these, then. Though I have a feeling you'll fare far better in your encounter with this killer than I did," Futaba mused, her hand briefly touching her lips. "Well, good luck on your search, Miss Mercelina. I hope for both of our sakes that you catch this predator, and put them down for good."

* * *

It was a hot and humid day in the jungles of Brazil, though one Asan Sangkroh was trying to ignore the weather as best as he could. No matter how debilitating the heat was, it would all be worth it if it meant helping people in need.

It was just a matter of waiting for his guide to show up. Doctors Without Borders had received word of a native village in desperate need of medical supplies and professional help, but they were understandably wary and untrustworthy of outsiders. Eventually, it had been decided a volunteer would go meet with a local guide, a man named Kalisto Ribeiro, who would lead them to the village. From there, Asan was to ascertain both what specifically the village needed and to show their benevolent intentions.

His guide should show up any minute now, or so he'd been told. And sure enough, after an extra ten minutes, Asan spotted someone stepping out from the jungle. They wore a dusty, dark grey hoodie and a pair of slightly torn and dirtied brown trousers. Most notably, however, they were carrying a well-used machete.

"You are...doctor for...the village?" Kalisto called out in slow, somewhat broken English.

The EMT made his way up to the man and pulled him into a hug. It only lasted for a second before the bubbly doctor pulled away and gave a wide smile. "Yes I am, you must be Kalisto! Please tell me what I can do to help!" Asan asked, barely giving the guide a moment to adjust to him, especially with how quickly he talked.

Kalisto blinked rapidly, freezing in place as Asan unexpectedly pulled him into a hug. He blatantly stared at him in response, clearly not sure how to respond by that at all. So he decided to do the most logical thing, and pretend as if the last few seconds had no transpired.

"...Many people in village...especially children...sick. Not sure...why. People are...scared. Hooman medicine...might be...only hope." he stiffly explained.

"I see. In that case we'll need to figure out everyone who is showing symptoms, as well as determining exactly what we are dealing with." Asan's goofy smile disappeared as he placed a finger against his chin. After a moment he lightly shook his head and looked back to Kalisto with a thumbs up. "Let's get going! By the way, how long of a walk do we have?"

"...The village is...hour west. I will...guide best I can. Try not to...do stupid things," Kalisto replied. That said, he turned around and marched back into the jungle, motioning for Asan to follow him. Once he did, they began their long trek through the forest.

Once he finished his stretching, the EMT made sure to stay by the other man's side, still smiling widely. "Right right, I gotta stay on my a game so I can help the villagers, Ah but this place looks like a great place to go for a run. It's like a natural obstacle course!"

Kalisto glanced over at Asan, raising an eyebrow before giving a light shrug. "Suppose...so. But...nature deadly… to hoomans who... don't respect it. It beautiful...but also...really dangerous."

"Man how can I not respect this, it's so nice out here!" Asan called out as he throw his arms out and taking some deep breaths. "Honestly, after my parents kept me locked up all the time as a kid, I'm just always happy to be out in nature."

If it was possible, Kalisto's eyebrow raised even further at that tidbit of information. He declined to comment on that however, instead saying, "Try not...to get too...distracted. Many dangers...and predators...lurk here. Death...come from anywhere."

"Ah, I see. Guess I'll have to be on my toes!" the doctor joked before his face got a bit more serious. He looked over Kalisato and decided to ask the flurry of questions that had started buzzing around in his mind. "So, what can you tell me about the sickness your village has been dealing with? What symptoms have they been showing? Does it seem like everyone is dealing with the same sickness, or could it be multiple?"

Kalisto looked surprised by the sudden barrage of questions, but he did his best to take it all in stride. "...Not my...people. They only...shelter me in exchange for...help. And...it seems...everyone has same disease. People cough… all time. Blood comes out, sometimes. They also...getting weaker and weaker...each day."

"Hmm... it certainly sounds like some kind of an infection, maybe even bronchiectasis if they're short of breath too... Though if the blood isn't as common that might just be from stress to the larynx from all the coughing, so it might not be as serious as something like tuberculosis. Either way I'm going to been to get more antibiotics shipped out here..." Asan muttered aloud rapidly, his minds running over whatever options made the most sense. After a few seconds of this he shook his head again to look at the guide. "Sorry, is there anything else going on with them?"

Kalisto shook his head. "Not...that I know. The disease...has already killed some. Seems to...take life after...two weeks. Many people...have already died."

Asan nodded as his minds still raced to identify what he might be dealing with. As he did he reached into one of the bags on his hips and pulled out a facemask and hooked it around his ears. "Alright then, sounds like we don't have much time to waste, I need to figure out what they're dealing with and make the call to the organization asap."

Kalisto nodded at that, and a comfortable silence descended upon them not long after.

It took a good deal of walking, but they both reached the village eventually. However, something was wrong. As they stepped into the village, they could see no one in sight. Even more concerning, they couldn't hear anything aside from the sound of the jungle around them.

Kalisto already has his guard up, holding his machete out defensively. When they reached the village's center, they finally found someone: though not who they expected. Tending to a small figure was a figure dressed in black, wearing a skull mask over their face.

_"Asan Sangkroh...and Kalisto Ribeiro. Your reckoning has come. It is time to answer for your sins,"_ the mysterious figure declared, speaking with the voice of an older, matured woman.

Then, before either of them could react, Kalisto and Asan both felt a sharp pain prick their necks. A wave of fatigue took hold, and soon forced them both into unconsciousness…

* * *

Doctor Sophea Kaliyanei leaned back in her chair, idly observing her patient as she sat across from her. They were situated in the eSports Room of Hope Hills Preparatory Academy, one of the prestigious talent schools of the United States. The room itself had been rearranged slightly from its normal state: a small table had been cleared out to house one of the various computer terminals. Sophea and her partner say on one side, while her patient and the computer were opposite of them.

It was a somewhat unorthodox interview; but this was a special case. Natalya Chemovsky was a child, and her file stated that she'd been using video games as a coping mechanism. Hence why they were in the eSports Room in the first place.

Doctor Kaliyanei spared her partner, a teacher at HHPA, one last glance before deciding to start the interview proper. "So, Natalya, how are you feeling today?"

The young girl remained silent, keeping her eyes glued on the screen. The soft clicking of buttons mingled with her breathing, as she tried to ignore the doctor. She was after all, playing her favorite game, Fallout 3, and she didn't like being interrupted. However, when the woman cleared her throat, she knew she wasn't going to leave. She continued playing, briefly glancing away from the screen.

"I'm feeling alright," she said, her voice was filled with annoyance as she spoke. "I would rather keep playing my game, it helps me forget the real world."

Riyo's fuzzy brow furrowed at her words. Puffing her chest, she skittered on her eight little legs toward the girl with a plate of apple juice and cookies in her hands. "Oh, Sweetie, if you don't want to talk right now, would you at least have a snack? We're all worried for you..."

Natalya glanced at the cookies in the small woman's hands. She hadn't grown used to seeing people like her in the world yet, but she was slowly adjusting. Her hand out, snatching a cookie from the plate, her hand moving like the head of a striking cobra. She nibbled on the sweet treat, backing away slightly. "I apologize, I'm not a big fan of spiders."

Miss Arioka's lips curled into a gentle, fanged smile, but truth be told, the tiny woman's tiny heart deflated inside her carapace. She gently hopped backward to the doctor's side. "No worries! Even most adults would've screamed at the sight of me. You're a brave girl, Natalya."

"No, it's okay... you're really nice," she said happily, her gaze falling onto the therapist. She bristled a bit as she nibbled on her cookie. "You, on the other hand, are here to over glorify what happened to me in Hope Hills Elementary aren't you? You want my story so you can sell it to the media. That's probably why Headmaster Xiao Long hired you." she said in an accusatory tone.

Doctor Kaliyanei merely smiled at Natalya in response. "Of course not. I am merely here to ascertain your current mental health, and offer you avenues for further treatment, if you so wish. HHPA only has the best in mind for you and your fellow survivors."

Tilting her head in every which way, the spidery teacher stared curiously at the doctor for a moment before patting her hands together in a rhythmic beat. "R-Right, of course! We want the best for you, Sweetie, so please, tell us if there's anything we can do for you. Anything at all—don't be shy!"

"Hmm... anything at all huh?" she repeated to herself, tapping her chin in thought. She looked back at the two, a firm look on her face. "I want you to free my father from his prison sentence. There is nothing else in this world that I could ever want."

The placid smile remained on Doctor Kaliyanei's face, even as she shook her head. "I'm afraid that is simply beyond the school's power, Natalya. Your father is a prisoner in Russia, after all...and they aren't exactly on friendly terms with us, even in the best of times. Much as I wish otherwise, this isn't something we could do for you."

The look on Natalya's face soured, as she swallowed the last of her cookie. "False promises is all people like you are capable of making these days. Neither of you have been in the position I was a few months ago. You want to know if I'm doing well mentally da? Believe me, my mind is as sharp as always. I needed help when I was trapped in that school fighting for my life, I don't need your help now. So if you could leave me alone, that would be fantastic,"

A subtle pitter-pattering—almost like the sound of pillows being fluffed—filled the room as all eight of Riyo's legs nervously danced along the floor. She blinked at the girl before turning to the doctor and tugging at her sleeve. "Umm, right, it's best that we go now, don't you think? I have a lot of work waiting for me at my desk...and, well, other files of a sort to check on..." Riyo chuckled sheepishly, not feeling the need to elaborate on her online dating profiles. "Be well now, Natalya! You're a growing girl, so don't stay up too late playing video games, okey-dokes?"

"Do Svidaniya," she said simply, turning back to her game. She unpaused it, the familiar sound of V.A.T.S activating filled the room, followed by rapid-fire gunshots. She glanced over her shoulder, noticing the Doctor had yet to budge, despite Riyo urging her to leave. She sighed, pausing her game again. "Look... I know you are here to do your job, and that this school cares about me. But it's all too fresh... to recent. I lost friends in there... and I know it sounds selfish, since I'm not the only one who's been through this but-"

She remained silent, unable to really say anything. She gathered her thoughts for a moment, before continuing. "-I would rather you see to the others first. I'm doing fine... but the survivors have it worse. Some of them were sheltered during the Tragedy, or were too young to remember much. Seeing someone get dismembered before them isn't... God... I just..."

There was a white and blue blur of movement, and before the girl knew it, Miss Arioka was lightly yet rapidly patting her shoulder with a gloved hand. "There, there, Natalya. It's okay now. You're here with us, and everything's okay..."

"She's right, Natalya. We're here to help you too if you want it. There are other kids who suffered just like you, that's true...perhaps worse than you I'll grant. But you still went through this traumatic incident. Your pain isn't any less important here," Doctor Kaliyanei stated in a cool, pleasant tone. After a moment she reached into her pocket and slid an index card across the table for her to grab. "Here's my number if you ever want to talk. We don't have to continue this now, but if you ever want to...well, I'm only a phone call away."

"Spasibo," she said softly in Russian. She cleared her throat, looking up from the card. "I mean thank you. I'm still getting used to always speaking in English." she said, holding back her sniffles.

"It's fine, dear. Well, I think I'll take my leave for now. Miss Arioka can stay here a little longer with you if you want. Until next time, Natalya," the Doctor proclaimed, getting out of her seat.

She waved goodbye to the two of them before ducking out of the room. She walked a ways away, double checking that no one was around, before coming to a stop. She got out her phone and made a quick call. "Yes Director, it's me...yes, I just finished with Chemovsky. My thoughts? Well, I have to agree with your assessment: I think she'd make the perfect subject for your experiment..."

* * *

Most people had an extreme phobia of the dentist, perhaps for understandable reasons. Kotaro Kanaka was not that kind of person, however. He of course knew who his dentist was: they'd been friends since they were kids. Even disregarding that, well...his dentist was also disturbingly cute. One could be mistaken for thinking they were a girl, when in fact they were one hundred percent male.

All in all, Kotaro wasn't afraid or anxious of his dentist at all. What he _found_, however...

Kotaro gave an exaggerated yawn as Eisei finally finished his checkup, gratefully closing his mouth once he'd taken away all his tools. "So, what's the damage, Doc? Is it mouth cancer? Because I'd rather have that than have another wisdom tooth extracted."

"I did not detect any ulcer-like protrusions, but if you have concerns over the possibility of cancer, then it would be best if I referred you to a specialist. I know of an excellent oncologist who does not mind the reek of alcohol," Dr. Eisei Amane droned with an impassive look on his all too feminine face. He clearly didn't detect the man's sarcasm. "I see you never stopped smoking as I've asked you to, friend. Apart from a few cigarette stains, there is no lasting damage that can't be fixed by regular flossing. I would also recommend liberal application of mouthwash. Before you leave, I'll send you on your way with a baggie."

Kotaro gave Eisei a small smirk, nodding as he gave his recommendations. "Nah, I don't think that's necessary. Trust me, I'm as healthy as a horse! And yeah, yeah, I know...smoking's bad for my body and everything. But hey, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I mean, I've been considering taking up vaping, I've heard it's healthier than regular cigarette smoking, but...ah, I dunno. I mean, seems like only idiots and lame-ass punks are the ones really taking a shine to it, and I got a reputation to uphold.

"But anyway...I'll make sure to take all that into consideration. And thanks, I do appreciate it," Kotaro replied, his smirk widening. At the same time, well...his eyes couldn't help but linger over his friend's interesting choice of attire.

"Okay...I gotta ask. What's up with the outfit?"

"Is my outfit of concern to you, friend? You did happen to appear without warning on one of my rare off days, and thus I had no choice but to schedule an emergency appointment without so much as changing out of my casual wear. I hope that does not bother you." Eisei blinked twice, causing his false lashes overladen with mascara to flutter from the momentum.

The lilliputian man's black-painted lips pouted ever so slightly. Eisei raised his arms and arched his back like a yawning kitten as he unlatched the skull accessory holding his high ponytail together, allowing the raven locks streaked with silver to cascade down his slender, bare shoulders. Decked out in a black leather tube top that exposed the perfect slit of his navel and a studded skirt that could *generously* be labeled as mini, he was best described as a fusion between goth-punk and an otaku's wet dream. Still confused by his friend's apparent confusion, Eisei adjusted his fishnet stockings with a loud snap before pointing at his O-ring choker. "If it's my collar that distresses you, then rest assured, friend. I have not chosen to live as a housepet since we last met. I am a free man in the non-purchasing sense."

Kotaro couldn't help but let out a small snort, chuckling as Eisei pointed out his collar. "No, no, it's not that. It's just...well, not quite what I was expecting. You look like you're dressed for a hot date or something. I hope I didn't ruin any plans of yours for your day off."

Any other man might start to question their sexuality upon seeing Eisei in such a getup. But Kotaro wasn't that kind of man, as it so happened. However...well, even _he_ could be flummoxed by unexpected situations like this.

'Eisei the Gothic Princess' frowned, a countenance that suited his cherubic face just as well as any other. "Forgive me, friend, but you must be mistaken. It cannot be a hot date today. We are in the midst of January—you may look out the window and see the snow for yourself if further evidence is required." The dentist cutely gestured at the alpine view and winter-scape that laid beyond the frosted glass. "I would know because I had been cycling outside just an hour before you interrupted my pastime with your call."

Kotaro couldn't help but outright laugh this time, amusement evident in his face as he chuckled. "Ah, so I was mistaken! Heh, you were just outside cycling, huh? It seems a little cold to ride around in an outfit like that. But anyway...whatcha up to these days, Eisei? Been a while since we last had the chance to catch up."

"I could ask the same of you. You left so suddenly to study abroad, and during all those years, I haven't heard from you until today. What brings you back to Japan now?" He paused, pressing a manicured nail to his dark lips before softly asking, "Kotaro, do you still play your instruments? I would not mind hearing the maestro at work once more...as long as it is anything but piano."

"Eh, figured it was time to come back, especially before my commitments in Europe pull me back. Just finished my first semester teaching at a talent school in Italy; a fancy-schmancy, uptight place focused on 'The Arts'. Reminds me of VA, but somehow even more pretentious. Anyway, the current semester just ended. Figured I'd come back home in the meanwhile, catch up with my friends and family. Been especially eager to see little Kanade again, she's grown up quite a bit since I last saw her," Kotaro stated with a fond smile.

He paused a moment, his lips twitching at Eisei's other question. After a moment though he gave a small nod. "I've...fallen out of practice a little...but for a friend, I wouldn't mind taking up an instrument again. I know Kanade's been dying to hear me play, too. Heh, I also got tons of orchestras all over Japan begging me to come conduct for them, now that I'm in the neighborhood. But yeah...just name a time and a place, and I'd be more than happy to play for an old friend."

"Have I truly crossed into the territory of being old?" Eisei clicked his high heels on the floor and continuously tilted his head until he nearly toppled over. Stumbling, he then nodded with a serious yet pleased expression. "No matter, with age comes wisdom. Very well, I name the time as being forty-five minutes from this exact moment, and the place shall be at my condominium."

"Ha, sounds good to me! How are we going to get there, though? I'm pretty sure someone of your stature isn't legally allowed to drive..." Kotaro teased, his lips curving into a cat-like grin.

"Not true at all. I earned my driver's license quite some time ago and..." The dentist's mouth gradually formed an 'O' to match his collar. "Oh. I see. Ha. Ha. A good joke that most definitely does not offend those with my condition, friend. To answer your question, there should be enough room for two on my bicycle if I stay seated on your lap. One moment. I keep a spare helmet in the cabinets."

Shuffling his little feet, Eisei made his way over to the cabinets on the wall that were far beyond his reach and scanned the surroundings before releasing a puff of a sigh. "Somebody misplaced my step ladder. Kotaro, if I may call upon your assistance." He turned to the taller man and lifted his arms the way a child would when silently requesting a hug.

Kotaro struggled to keep a straight face; he had a feeling his friend wouldn't appreciate it if he burst out laughing. Instead, he merely gave a dainty nod, as if this was something totally normal.

So he got out of his chair and approached Eisei. He paused briefly, his face nearly breaking, but he managed to hold it in. He then reached down to lift Eisei up like a child and guided him to the cabinet he sought.

"Kotaro...Let it be known that picking me up is a rare honor bestowed only to my most trusted of cohorts." Having said his piece, the dentist deftly unlocked the cabinet before him and swung it open to reveal jars nearly overflowing with candy. At the very top of the shelves was a white helmet decorated with girly flower stickers. Combating his sugar cravings with the discipline of a samurai, Eisei ignored the jars, picked up the helmet, and squirmed about in the maestro's grip until he could crown him with it.

"Well, I feel oh so very honored," Kotaro snarked back. He glanced at the candy with mild interest, before focusing back on Eisei, letting the diminutive dentist 'crown' him with the helmet. "You know, I gotta admit: I did not see my day going like this."

"Unless you are able to claim psychic prowess of the precognitive sort, I don't believe you possibly could have," Eisei quipped, raising his finger with the self-assurance found only in utter fools and dainty dentists. "Ahem. You may gently set me down now, friend."

Kotaro gave a small snort and gently placed Eisei back onto the floor a moment later. "Heh, you've got a point. So then...ready to blow this joint, Doc?"

Eisei froze. His brain threatened to short-circuit as it ran through all the permutations of what Kotaro might've meant by 'blow this joint'. After a dozen daunting seconds, he finally settled on a tentative "...Yes?"

"All right! Let's get going then!" Kotaro grinned.

He gestured for Eisei to take the lead, following after him as they left his office. As they did though, Kotaro couldn't help but take one more look at his friend and envision how the ride over to his condo would look. It was...well, to put it concisely—

"We are definitely getting pulled over by the cops."


	5. CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD

Churches were often a place of comfort and sanctuary for a variety of people, and Hapi Neureal was one such person. In the aftermath of his Killing Game, he'd taken to traveling far and wide; and now here he was in Australia. More specifically, in a church in Melbourne.

He had taken refuge there for the night, allowed to stay once he explained his situation to the priest. Now he was getting ready to retire to bed, but there was one more than he needed to do: confess. As such, he slipped quietly into the confessional booth in the church and sat down inside. It was a tight fit, given both his height and his wings brushing against the back wall. But he would endure it all the same.

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned," Hapi began, once he heard the priest settle in and sit down in the other booth.

The man stifled a light laugh before replying with a tired voice. "They must weigh on you quite a bit my child, I haven't even welcomed you in the name of Christ, but please, speak freely."

Hapi remained silent a moment, before issuing a sigh of his own. He paused to collect his thoughts, before replying, "I have done much I am...not proud of. I have had to steal food and clothing for myself and hurt people who have tried to attack me. And...I survived while others who should have died in my place."

It was the priest's turn to stay quiet for a time before he spoke up once again. "Ever since the Tragedy struck it has been very hard for countless people, many haven't been able to return to their old ways of life. It may seem in these times of strife that turning to sin is our only choice, but you mustn't lose faith in the Lord. There are places you can go, to find honest help. But you must be willing to offer what help you can in return."

"Of course, father," Hapi immediately replied. Though the priest could not see the gesture, he humbly bowed his head all the same. "I am willing to do whatever it takes if it means returning to the Lord's graces."

"Tell me, my son, is there anything else you would like to confess to before we determine your penance?" the man asked calmly, with a bit of a curious tone. "And how long has it been since your last confession? You didn't say earlier."

"It has been..." Hapi paused, closing his eyes as he recounted the days. "...thirty-three days since my last confession, father. It has been a long while since I was able to find a church."

He paused again, searching his mind for anything else he needed to confess to. Of course, one came to mind immediately. He opened and closed his mouth, reluctant to voice it aloud...but it had to be said all the same. He could not hide this from the Lord. "...My family, Father. I...have failed them. My grandmami, especially. When they needed me most, I...was not there for them."

"I see, please excuse me for a moment," the priest explained as he got out of his seat. Hapi sat in stunned silence, as he carefully listened to the man's footsteps leave his booth. The Archangel's breath caught in his throat when he heard the door to his booth start to swing open. The figure wearing a skull mask looked back at the boy and the priest's voice came from them.

"I'm afraid that God will not be freeing you from your sins, so your penance, Hapi Neureal, will soon be served!"

* * *

The sounds of idle conversation and laughter filled the air as Daniela Gomez entered the main banquet hall of the mansion. This particular evening the mansion was hosting a party held by its owner, one Mitsuru Yoshida, a powerful man in Japan's entertainment industry.

Yoshida had a finger in every pie, practically. He had interests in media, film, television, video games, even idol groups...there was hardly a sector in the entertainment industry he wasn't involved with. And, as her benefactors suspected, Yoshida was also in cahoots with the Yakuza.

Rumors had been floating around for years of his involvement in criminal activities, particularly human trafficking. For years he'd been practically untouchable, and the Tragedy had seen resources shifted elsewhere. But that was about to change. Daniela's latest mission was to infiltrate his party and discreetly slip a tracking device onto Yoshida's person. From there, her group would be able to track his every movement and find out where it was he met with his criminal contacts.

With that in mind, Daniela slowly made her way through the hall, keeping an eye out for Yoshida.

"Where do you think you're going, nyan?" a voice said, causing the young woman to jump. She turned around, coming face to face with a young blonde woman. She took a sip from her champagne glass, sighing contently. "How can you walk around here and not say hi to Rika?"

Daniela whirled around, eyes widening briefly before she forced a more placid expression onto her face. She cleared her throat, nodding slightly to the young woman. "Ah, yes, sorry. I didn't see you there...Rika."

It had to have been someone who recognized her disguise; at the moment, she was dressed up as a foreign born idol star. That was the only reason Daniela could think of, at least.

"Rika didn't know you were going to be at this party! Rika hopes you brought everyone else with you, she hasn't seen Kotone and Touka in a long time!" the peppy idol said. She fixed her cat-themed headphones, making sure her black dress was nice and neat. "Maybe we can all talk about a feature on Rika's next album, that would be fun wouldn't it nyan?"

"Ah...unfortunately, they couldn't make it. They weren't feeling well," Daniela lied. She felt a little bead of sweat start to gather on her brow; she hadn't expected this. This was just supposed to be a quick in and out mission! "But yes, that might be fun...it'll have to be saved for another time, of course."

"Mhmm Mhmm! I think that will be really fun!" Rika said cheerfully. She took another sip of her champagne, looking around the hallway. "So, why are you skulking around eh? You gotta use the litter box?"

"...Yes," Daniela replied at length, deciding to seize the opportunity. She'd be able to make a clean escape with that excuse. It would just require hiding out in the bathroom for a few minutes. Then, she could come back out, avoid Rika, and find her target. "Yes, I'm on my way to the facilities. So, if you'll please excuse me..."

"I can show you where it is if you'd like. I've been there before since I had to fix my make up." the idol said, a smile on her face. "Follow me, and don't you dare try to shake me, because I've got my eye on you~"

"...But of _course_," Daniela said, her eye twitching faintly as she reluctantly followed after Rika. Who, come to think, was starting to look more and more familiar. She was obviously an idol, of course; but which one? It wasn't like she kept up with the scene religiously.

"It isn't that far from here, hehe. Say, how's Shinji doing, you two still going out?" Rika asked, giving the woman a smile. "My friend Sasha is interested in taking a picture of you two. Celebrity couples pay a lot of money these days,"

"Ah...yes, we're still together. As for pictures...well, we can talk about that another time," she replied, resisting the urge to scowl as the incessant idol chatted her up.

She wasn't supposed to leave any evidence she'd been here, but more and more she was getting tempted to just knock her out and hide her body someplace. But hopefully, once she'd been led to the bathroom, this would be over!

"You know... if there's something that pisses me off more than disgusting basement dwelling perverts, it's lying sacks of shit like you." the woman snapped, taking Daniela by surprise. She glared at her, her deep blue eyes filled with anger. "You aren't Ichika, she doesn't even have a boyfriend. Who the fuck are you?"

Daniela stared back at Rika, pursuing her lips. At the same time, she finally recognized her: she was Rika Rika Nyan, or Nodoka Toyohama, one of the most famous idols in Japan. Who also happened to have a well publicized rivalry with the idol she had disguised herself as.

Shit.

"...Do you really want to know?" she asked, carefully weighing her options. They were away from the main party now, but still out in the open. Trying to make a move on her now would be risky. "I'm not borrowing your friend's identity for anything malicious. In fact, no one will ever know I was here. Ideally."

"You're up to some fuckshit aren't you? Lemme guess, you are trying to get some dirt on that Yoshida douchebag, the guy who owns this place. It isn't hard to figure out he's got connections to the mob. You trying to kill him or something?" the young woman asked curiously.

"Nothing so uncouth," Daniela denied, shaking her head. "I'm merely here to plant a tracker on Yoshida. My employers have information that Yoshida is meeting with several high ranking Yakuza after this party. The plan is to track him to that location, and then raid wherever it is they're meeting."

"Hmm... well, I would wish you luck but, this whole outfit your wearing... hate to break it to ya honey, but it's dog shit. I knew you weren't Ichika the entire time, I was just fucking with you. But you are in deep shit so... tell ya what, you give me that tracker, and I'll put it on Yoshida for ya. He likes sexy idols like me, and I just turned 18 not that long go. I'm _ripe_ if you will." Nodoka said, finishing the last of her champagne, she didn't even bother covering her burp with her hand. Daniela cringed at the act. "And before you say no, remember that if he figures out you aren't an actual idol, he'll put a bullet in your skull, so pick your poison."

Daniela remained silent for a moment, internally weighing her options. She didn't like the idea at all of trusting Nodoka, a civilian, to plant the tracker. But...she also had a good point.

"Fine, I suppose you have a point there," she sighed, before reaching into her hidden pocket to fish out the tracker. "Just be careful. I only have one shot at this mission."

"I gotcha covered girl," Nodoka said, giving her a wink as she accepted the tracker. "Now let's go, Yoshida should be in the back with all of his close friends."

Daniela nodded, following the blonde idol through the hallway. She heard her clear her throat, greeting a few people in her cutesy idol persona. It was night and day with Nodoka, one moment she was a no-nonsense, foul-mouthed woman, and the next she was a cute idol. She was rather impressed with the idol, she certainly wasn't expecting it. Leaving the main house, she stayed behind, watching the idol cut across the small crowd, where Yoshida was sitting, beer in hand. Nodoka paused for a moment, giving her a subtle wink.

_"What is she planning?"_ the woman thought, eyes narrowed as she watched the idol. Nodoka spoke briefly with Yoshida, who seemed rather excited to see her. Her jaw dropped as she sat down on the man's lap, wrapping her arm around his neck, placing a kiss on his lips. She saw Nodoka grabbing his suit tightly, pulling him close as she continued forcefully kissing the man. _"She's certainly forward."_ she thought, shaking her head.

After a minute or two of making out, Nodoka politely excused herself, giving the man a wink and a giggle. She swayed her hips as she left, walking back into the house. She walked past Daniela, gesturing for her to follow. Once they had gotten away, she began spitting on the ground, rubbing her lips with her forearm. "Ugh... fuck! That was so gross, he tasted like cigarettes!"

Daniela held a hand to her mouth, unable to help but chuckle slightly as Nodoka wiped her lips. "Well, I have to admit, that went a lot better than I thought. I'm also glad you spared me the _honor_ of having to get close to him myself. I certainly wasn't looking forward to that."

"All in a day's work, I felt kinda bad for calling your bullshit, had to help ya out or else I'd be beating myself up over it," she admitted, rubbing her arm. "I got it right on his collar, doubt he'll realize it's there. So it's all up to you now. Maybe after you get your intel and finish your mission, you'll join me and my friend for drinks at my apartment. We're leaving for the United States in a few days so we're gonna party hard before we do."

"Hm, perhaps. I'll have to see how my schedule looks," Daniela replied, giving a light shrug. She turned around to leave, waving goodbye at Nodoka as she did so. "In the meantime, I have a scumbag to go bust. Until next time, Nodoka."

* * *

It had been all over the news the last few days: survivors from a killing game in California's Death Valley had been found by the national guard. And as was the case with killing game survivors these days, reporters had flocked to the area to interview them, and get their story. However the two survivors, Asan Sangkroh and Jacqueline McBride, had been reclusive. Since their rescue last week, they'd been put up in a hotel in Santa Barbara under police protection. No one outside of law enforcement had been allowed to see them.

Not everyone was willing to give up in the face of those odds, however…

Sasha Raymond-Reddington adjusted her satchel, grunting as she shimmied up the balcony of the hotel. Gathering her footing, she looked back down at the screaming and angry reporters in front of the hotel. Even though none of them could see her Sasha spit out her tongue in their direction.

'_That's the difference between me and all of you plebs. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get the best stories.'_

The green-haired girl climbed one more floor, gasping in surprise after she tripped over the balcony, looking up through the door.

"Yup, this is my floor," Sasha smirked triumphantly.

The lights were out in the hotel room, making it difficult to see inside. There was at least one figure in one of the beds it seemed, and there was a light coming out from under the bathroom door. Someone was definitely inside.

It didn't take long to pick the lock on the balcony door, and Sasha carefully made her way into the room proper. However, as she stepped inside, the sound of a gun being cocked behind her stopped her short.

"Y'all got ten seconds to skedaddle, or I'm firing. And it ain't gonna be a warning shot," a feminine voice with a distinctive Southern twang threatened her.

"Hey now, let's remain civil," Sasha replied diplomatically, raising her hands above her head in surrender. "And it's just me, for your information. My name is Sasha Raymond-Reddington, the future Supreme Paparazzi. What's yours?" The green-haired girl asked in an attempt to have the southern girl calm down.

There was a moment of silence before the mystery girl responded. "Jacqueline McBride, but my friends call me Jackie. But you already know who I am, Sasha. And you should know I ain't talking to the press. Same goes for the kid."

"I understand, I really do. But, I'm here to help you, believe it or not." The green-haired girl responded, glancing over her shoulder to look at Jackie in the eye. "Sure, you may stave off the press for tonight, and then the next, but for how long? They will not stop until at least one story about you all breaks as a headline somewhere. Unfortunate as is, you cannot win."

Having sensed she had caught Jackie's attention, Sasha pressed her luck, turning around and lowering her hands. "Look, despite my sketchy self proclaimed title, I'm not a bitch. I'm not sure what you two are worried the press will do... maybe embellish the truth, being up traumatic memories, or invade your personal privacy..." Sasha stopped, realizing the hypocrisy of that last one. "Um, regardless, help me, help you. Let me interview you two, and we'll do it completely on your terms. I'll show you word for word what I'll publish, and then you two will be free after I publish it, as anything regarding you two will become old news."

The green-haired girl gave Jackie a nervous smile, glancing down at her gun warily. "So, what do you think?"

Jackie raised an eyebrow, chewing on her lip briefly before she gave an abrupt nod. She holstered her revolver a moment later and took a seat on a chair next to the balcony entrance. "You interview just me. The kid stays out of it. Got it?"

"A more than fair deal," Sasha replied, accepting instantly. She pulled up a seat across from Jackie, clearing her throat as she opened a notepad. "Right, just get comfortable and relax. Before we start, what questions are you ok with me asking, and which ones you don't want me to ask?"

"How we survived our game is off-limits. Besides that, everything else is fair game," Jackie replied after a moment, giving a slight shrug.

Sasha raised an eyebrow at that but nodded in agreement nonetheless. "I see. So let's see here..." the girl shuffled through her satchel, pulling out a pen. "Alright, first question: Besides you two, are you aware of any other survivors from the Death Valley game?"

"...No. Far as I'm aware, we were the only two who made it out alive," Jackie replied, giving a small sigh. "The national guard already raided the location of our game. Well, what's left of it. They didn't find anyone living left."

"I see. My condolences for any friends you may have lost." Sasha replied quietly, hastily scribbling down everything that Jackie told her. "Next... did you ever meet or figure out the identity of your game's mastermind? And if so, were they connected to an organization of some sort, besides Ultimate Despair?"

Jackie actually smiled at that, displaying a vicious sort of smirk. "Can't tell your their name; government wants to keep that classified for now, and I ain't double-crossing them. But we meet her. And I shot the bitch in between the eyes. They were definitely part of some organization...couldn't tell you what, though."

"Oh? Is that so?"Sasha replied, an eager grin on her face. "Now we're getting somewhere! You're one badass chick Jackie, y'know? I would have paid good money to have taken a picture of that!" The green-eyed girl's eyes widened, realizing she was being unprofessional. She cleared throat, writing down the cowgirl's response. "Sorry, I got carried away there, that was unprofessional of me."

Jackie just laughed, grinning herself as she chuckled. "Hey, ain't no skin off my bones, Sasha. I don't mind at all!"

"Right, let's see here... It's gonna be tough to top that question... I know!" Sasha hummed, flipping the pages of her notebook. "So, I'll just be blunt: Killing Games have become an almost commonplace occurrence for talented students these days all over the world, sad as it is. What's it like, when you first realize you're trapped in one of these games? I personally have no intention of ever figuring that answer out myself, so an honest answer would be appreciated."

Jackie remained quiet for a long moment, idly tapping her foot against the floor as she considered her answer. "It's...difficult to describe. It's like ya whole world changes in an instant: suddenly light is dark, up is down. The only thing I can compare it to is finding a coyote comin' after your sheep out in the fields. All of a sudden, you're staring death in the face. If not for you, then for sure others around ya. That's what it's like: knowin' death has come, and there ain't a thing you can do about it."

"That's... surprising deep. Thank you." Sasha tapped her chin with the edge of her pen thoughtfully. "So, I'll ask you one more question, and I would like to think that it is the most important one... Now that you're free to live your life again, you can go anywhere and do anything. What are you wanting to do but also, how has your perspective on life changed since before the Killing Game? Do you have any new ideas or new outlooks on life? Basically, what direction do you want your life to go?"

"I...want to go back home, if I can," she said, a pain expression flashing across her face. Her hands gripped the armrests of her chair tightly, though Jackie did her best to remain calm. "I want to go back to the family ranch, be a farmer like my pa, and live out the rest of my life in peace and obscurity. I...well, I ain't so interested in bein' a Talented person anymore. Those damn fools at HPA were the ones who painted a target on my back in the first place! And I… don't want nothin' to do with them anymore."

"..." Sasha quietly scribbled that response down, her leg tapping the ground rapidly as if in thought. "Thank you, Jackie. I think that's all... you're surprisingly insightful." The green-haired girl hesitated, fiddling with her satchel nervously. "If... you don't mind, could I ask you some questions? Off the record of course."

Jackie raised an eyebrow, before shrugging and gesturing for Sasha to go on. "Hell, I don't mind. Whatcha thinkin' there, darlin'?"

"Well... that last response, I don't understand. How can you just throw away your talent so easily like that? Not only that, abandon everything that your life has been about and all that hard work?" Sasha breathed, clearly confused. "I have worked my entire life in pursuit of being accepted to a school of talent, no matter what. Even doing some unsavory and questionable things, and I will never stop on my path to my goal. It just makes no sense to me how you have resolved yourself to this fate."

Jackie just sighed and leaned back in her chair, shaking her head lightly. "You just don't get it. Before all this Despair and Killing Game nonsense...sure, I'd agree with you. But now...hun, when you get stuck in a Killing Game, it changes everything. You're damned lucky if you survive it, and if ya do...well, ya start re-thinking things. Like what's really important. And to me...being alive and back home sure sounds a lot better than being Talented and buried in a shallow grave somewhere."

Sasha gritted her teeth furiously. "Yeah, that's great for you and all. But what if I have no home to return to? Not all of us are that lucky. I have had to survive on my own since I was 9 years old, and the only person I ever gave a damn about is probably dead." The green-haired girl was shaking, clearly upset as her eyes watered. "I can't walk away. And for you to nonchalantly do that..." Sasha took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I'm sorry, that was rude. Please forgive me."

"Hey, ain't no skin off my back. I don't mind much at all, hun," Jackie replied, giving Sasha a small smile. "Well, for what it's worth, I wish ya good luck and the Lord's blessings. This ain't an easy road to walk down, so I hope ya know what you're doin'."

"I... yeah, thanks. You too." Sasha gave Jackie a strained, yet genuine smile. "You're pretty awesome. I hope you and the other guy can find peace. And... well, if you really mean it..." She looked away to the side, clearly embarrassed. "Would you mind praying for me? I've never been one to believe in God, especially with all the shit the world has been through lately, but... damn, I'm just trying to find my peace of mind. I envy you, I really do."

Sasha wiped her eyes, her vibrant smile returning. "Say, if you don't mind humoring me one more time, can I take your picture? I want something to remember you by. 'The kickass girl who put a bullet through a Despair's eyes... eh, kinda lengthy, but I'll make it work!" She laughed, taking her prized camera out of her bag.

"Of course, darlin'. I'd be more than happy to! And yeah, sure, go ahead! Just make sure to capture my good side!" Jackie enthused, before posing for the camera. She got out her revolver, posing with it as she waited for Sasha to take the picture.

Sasha giggled, snapping several pictures. "God, you look like some sort of American action hero figure." She joked, putting away her camera. "Thanks for taking the time to do this. I promise I'll make it the best piece I can. The media will be out of your hair shortly." The green-haired girl stuck out her hand for Jackie to shake. "Good luck, Jacqueline McBride. I hope your future is as boring and uneventful as you wish it to be."

"Ha, I can only hope. Good luck to you too, Sasha. I hope you get what you want in the end," Jackie replied as she shook her hand. "And I hope you don't regret it."

* * *

"Anyone got eyes on the target?" Diana Holt inquired softly into her headset, as she and her team slowly made their way into the forest. At the same time, she kept an eye on her surroundings, wary of any potential traps.

Normally Holt hated traversing through nature, but this was a special case. She and her team had been hired to do a job: namely to track and secure one Takeji Kano. He wasn't any normal target however: in fact, he was the Ultimate Survivalist. Someone like him was no doubt prepared to take on anyone that tried to track him down. And given he was a Talented individual...well, there was no telling what he was capable of.

Normally Holt wouldn't take on a contract like this...but the client was willing to pay big money if they could secure Takeji alive. And her team really needed a big payday like that. She just hoped that she wouldn't come to regret this decision.

"Negative, ma'am." Austin Merrill replied, his boots crunching through the leaves beneath his feet. "Everyone stay sharp, look out for traps."

"Why are we being so cautious?" Hissed Wendy Callahan, who was a few paces ahead of Austin. "It's just one little brat, what the hell do we have to fear?"

"Because it's an Ultimate. You can never underestimate them." Advised another male, Byron Hartnell. The man double-checked that the safety on his gun was off, trying to steady his nervous breathing. "Just listen to Diana and we'll have this over fast."

Diana remained silent, only remarking for her team to cut the chatter as they advanced further into the forest. Satellite imagery had pinpointed the likely location of the shack Takeji had built for himself, and they were headed there now. But the closer they got into his territory, the more uncertain she grew.

Her fears proved to be founded when quite suddenly, a man near her yelled and disappeared from view.

"Lopez!" Diana rushed over to his location, pausing as she reached the edge of the pit trap he'd fallen to. Down below, she could see the body of her teammate, his chest impaled on a large wooden spike. "Shit! Lopez is dead!"

"What the fuck?" Wendy growled, angling the flashlight attachment on her rifle as she checked for any nearby traps. "I knew we should have waited until morning! Our visibility is limited."

"Wendy, shut the hell up... wait, what's that?" Byron frowned, glancing upwards. "I see some sort of light." The young man slowly approached a tree. "Seems to be some sort of small flame, I'll check it out-" The man cried out, having been suddenly dragged upwards by a rigged fishing net, struggling in vain to get out.

"You ok?" Austin yelled up.

"Yeah, but this net is wet... wait, is this gasoline? Shit! Someone help me- AHHH!" The man cried out in pain, his gasoline-soaked net having been set ablaze by the rigged match attached to the net. After a few seconds, the mans bloodcurdling screams ceased, having burned to death from the unrelenting flames.

"Jesus Christ!" Diana swore softly, taking a step back as she reconsidered her options. Already this mission was going straight to hell! "Fuck, everybody form up! Walk *carefully*, and don't go near *anything* you think might be a trap! We're only a mile away from Takeji's shack...we can't let this cocksucker get the best of us!"

"No arguments here," Austin whispered, quickly huddling up next to Diana. "I don't want this to turn into a horror movie for us."

"Quit being such a pussy!" Wendy spat, however the foul-mouthed woman quickly joined them. "I'm not dying here."

Austin hesitated, but sighed as he bit the bullet. "I'll take point. Stay in a tight formation, we'll move slowly and keep a good head on our surroundings."

Diana nodded wordlessly, gesturing for Austin to lead them on. Slowly the three of them made their way forward, keeping a close eye on anything that even looked remotely like a trap. For a good five minutes they continue this way, making slow but sure progress. Until...

"Man, my gramps must be really strapped for cash if all he could afford was you guys!" a voice suddenly called out from within the trees. "Seriously, those traps were designed to slow you down; I never expected that anyone would actually fall for them! Man, this is why you shouldn't skimp out, and get ex-Fenrir instead. Now _those_ guys are professionals!"

"Who the fuck is there?!" Wendy shouted, clutching the handle of her rifle tighter. "Come out and we'll make this nice and quick!"

"Wendy, shut the hell up!" Austin hissed, taking a step back. "We're at a disadvantage here."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to pass on that offer," Takeji replied, his voice echoing through the forest. "Well, I'm getting bored with you lot. Let's wrap this up, huh? This is your final warning. Get the fuck out of my woods, or you won't live through the night!"

Diana grit her teeth, eyes desperately searching the surrounding tears. "Shit, can _anyone_ figure out where he is?!"

"Damn, not only is it dark, but it's foggy too!" Austin swore, squinting his eyes as he tried to see through the mist.

Wendy's eyes widened, the woman taking a step forward as she saw a figure looming in the darkness. "There you are, asshole!" She screamed, quickly rushing forward.

"Wendy, wait!" Austin called out, but it was too late.

Wendy tackled the figure with a scream, her cries quickly turning to confusion. "Wait, this is a scarecrow, damn it all to hell!" She swore, her eyes widening as she tried and failed to get up. "It's sticky, I'm stuck to it!"

Austin rushed forward, flashing his light on her, his face visibly paling.

Not only was she glued to the scarecrow, but Austin was able to hear the soft beeping of a small device attached to the straw puppet.

He backed away slowly, lowering his head sadly. "I'm sorry Wendy."

The woman paled, her expression turning into a look of pure despair. "Wait, please—"

Austin jumped back quickly as the bomb detonated with a loud explosion.

"Oh fuck this shit, this job is _not_ worth dying for!" Diana growled out, before glancing over at Austin; her sole remaining teammate. "Let's get the fuck out of here, _now_!"

The man nodded quickly, his teeth chattering as he tried to gather his bearings. "You don't have to tell me twice!" Austin checked his compass, thanking the Lord that he had decided to pay attention to it as they had walked. "That way, Diana!" He grunted as the two ran as fast as they could.

The two of them raced away, Takeji's laughter filling the air as they fled. Once they were gone, the Ultimate Survivalist hopped out of the tree he'd been hiding in, landing on the ground with ease. "Well, that takes care of that. Gonna have to get a new hiding hole though...still, Gramps is really losing his touch if he thinks those clowns could really take me in. After everything he taught me, he really should know better by now..."

* * *

The convention hall was buzzing with activity, as the elite of the world's medical community interacted and mingled together. In recent years, events such as this had been taking place: a gathering of minds in essence, where doctors and scientists at the top of their careers would meet and exchange information. And among the many doctors in attendance were more than a few Talented individuals with medical or scientific talents.

George Willoughby was one such person: he was a recent graduate of Versailles Academy and known as the Elite Medical Doctor. This was his first time at a conference of this nature, and he felt somewhat nervous being there. He wasn't used to socializing with so many people in his field, though that itself was somewhat exciting. It was a chance to meet new people and exchange different and intriguing ideas, which he was all for.

At the moment, however, he'd taken something of a break from the convention at large. The hotel the convention was being held at had a bar, and so he was enjoying a nice, simple beer inside as he let himself unwind somewhat. He noticed a few other people from the convention in the bar as well, though he'd yet to approach any of them.

Fuka Tanaka smiled brightly, glancing around the hotel bar with excitement as she drank in the sights. As the world's leading authority on viruses and pathogens, she had been invited to the conference as a keynote speaker for the past 3 years in a row. Though she had become a well known regular at the conference, this was her first year dragging along her husband.

"Ayika dear, don't look so nervous. You look like I've just thrown you to the lions." She giggled, wrapping her arm around her husband's waist.

Ayika Tanaka, the former Ultimate Zoologist, ran a hand through his black hair, his heterochronic red and gray eyes surveying the area as he gave his wife a wary smile. "Heh, I would feel more comfortable in a den of lions than I do here, darling. I'm out of my element." He sighed, picking up a glass with a shot of tequila. "I'm not sure why you insisted I accompany you this year."

The blue-haired Virologist gave her husband a disapproving look, gently forcing the tequila out of his hands. "I brought you here so you could be more social, dear. And that tequila sure as hell isn't going to help, you have zero tolerance and we both know it." Fuka sat the glass back on the table, her eyes widening as she spotted a man drinking a beer by himself. "How about that young man over there? He seems just as antisocial as you." She teased.

"Why do I have a feeling I don't have a say in the matter?" Ayika frowned, furrowing his brows nervously.

"Because you don't." The red-eyed woman smirked, dragging her unwilling husband over to the man.

"Excuse me, sir, I hate to interrupt but my husband and I wished to introduce ourselves. My name is Fuka Tanaka, and this is my husband Ayika. How are you this evening?"

George glanced over at the couple, his eyes widening in minute surprise as he stared at Fuka in particular. "Fuka Tanaka? The famed virologist? Ah...sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. It's nice to meet you. I'm George Willoughby."

"That's me alright! Fuka Tanaka, the former Ultimate Virologist, at your service!" The blue-haired woman smiled, a light blush of honor on her cheeks. "As for fame, I could say the same to you, Mr. Willoughby. If I remember reading the attendees list correctly, you are a recent graduate of Versailles Academy, that fancy school in France. Elite Medical Doctor, right?"

"He graduated from Versailles?" Ayika asked curiously, having suddenly gained interest in the conversation. "I hear they have a world-class equestrian program, is that true?!" He asked excitedly, invading George's personal space as he got up in the man's face.

"Ah..." George reared back slightly, blinking rapidly as he stared at the suddenly engaged Ayika. "I never had cause to see the program for myself...but, ah, yes, they do. And yes, I am, or was I suppose, the Elite Medical Doctor. Though my credentials aren't as impressive as yours Doctor Tanaka, not yet at least."

"Oho? I see. I like your enthusiasm!" Fuka smiled, clasping her hands together with joy. "I love seeing talented up and coming people like yourself! This is how the medical community grows, it begins with folks like you!" She winked, subtly pulling Ayika away from the Elite's face. "Dear, remember. Personal space." She whispered.

"Right, sorry Mr. Willoughby." The Zoologist apologized, looking away in embarrassment. "I tend to lose the concept of personal space when I get enthusiastic."

Fuka hummed in thought, snapping her fingers together as if she got an idea. "Ayika sweetheart, will you get me a glass of wine please?"

"Of course." The black-haired man sighed in relief, happy to have an exit from the conversation. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Fuka and George watched Ayika wander off, the Virologist sighing with a fond smile. "I apologize on his behalf, my husband isn't the most social butterfly, so I try to force him out of his comfort zone from time to time. He is a great man, I assure you." Fuka turned to face him, tilting her head to the side curiously. "Tell me, Mr. Willoughby, do you have a certain field of expertise?"

"It's fine, I understand. I dealt with a lot of people like him back in VA. Though normally my preferred method of dealing with them was using chloroform to induce unconsciousness," George deadpanned, looking completely serious. He coughed a moment later though, elaborating, "Sorry, that was a joke. If that wasn't clear. I've had trouble getting that across sometimes."

"But yes, my specific field of expertise lies in regard to neurology. Though that's...a recent development, I suppose," he added.

"I see, I see!" Fuka nodded, completely engrossed. "The human brain has and most likely always will be, an enigma we cannot completely crack..." She mused, tapping her fingers on the table in thought. "So, speaking of neurology, I have heard about a new and scary-sounding brain parasite that was discovered in a small Japanese town recently. They're calling it 'Hinamizawa Syndrome' I believe. Something about it causing paranoia and eventual insanity in its hosts. Quite scary..."

"Is that so?" George inquired with keen interest. "I would love to get my hands on a specimen for study. Though I have plenty of other...projects to occupy my attention these days."

"Oh? Well don't be coy with me Mr. Willoughby!" Fuka teased, fiddling with a loose strand of her hair. "Mind giving a curious girl a preview of what a talented young lad such as yourself is working on?"

"Well..." George hesitated, before giving a small nod. "There's a particular...patient I'm working on right now. They have an unknown neurological disorder that I'm doing my best to treat. It's still early into the treatment and research itself, however, so I have high hopes for them."

"An unknown neuro disorder?" The Virologist mused, scrunching up her face in thought. "No wonder it sounds so secretive. I understand if you cannot say anymore, but what symptoms is this neurological disorder causing?"

"Hysteria, mood swings, night terrors, loss of lucidity...and much more. Bit by bit, the patient is losing control over their own mind. It's...an extremely vexing case, to say the least. I was able to catch on and diagnose the issue early into its progression, but still..." George trailed off, grimacing as sighed. "I'll admit, half the reason I came to this convention was in the hopes of getting a second opinion. If someone else has encountered a case like this...well, their knowledge would be of immense help to me."

"Ironically enough, those symptoms sound somewhat similar to the Hinamizawa Syndrome, though I'm sure if it was a parasite you would have figured that out..." Fuka mused, pilling out a pen and a notepad. "Tell me, is there a possibility that it is a virus, or is it just a genetic disorder of sorts? Because if it is the former, perhaps I could help?"

"Trust me, I've checked. If it was a brain parasite, this would have been much simpler," George replied with a shake of his head. "And I don't believe it's a virus either. I've run numerous tests to try and test that possibility. No...it appears to be some sort of unknown genetic disorder, from the research and testing I've done. At least, that's my running hypothesis right now. I've ruled just about everything else out at this stage."

Fuka sighed, clearly disappointed. "It often is never that easy, is it? Or we 'd never have jobs!" She joked, jotting something down in her notebook before putting it away. "Strange that it seems to be a new genetic disorder that has been undiscovered, it must be extremely rare. Unfortunately, if it is not a virus or pathogen, I'm afraid I am very little help." The Virologist apologized with a laugh. "Thankfully you have the right idea looking for others in your field to converse with. You're young, though despite that I'm glad to see you already know the number 1 rule of science: teamwork and collaboration. With your attitude, I'm sure you'll achieve success!" Fuka assured him.

"Thank you very much, Doctor Tanaka," George replied, a slight smile forming on his lips. He took another sip of his beer, a steely expression flashing across his face as he added, "I appreciate the vote of confidence. I'm hopeful I'll find someone here who might have some experience with this disorder...but even if I can't, I'm not going to give up. It's...not an option for me, at all. I have to find a cure for her, no matter what."

Fuka cocked an eyebrow at that, but said nothing. '_This sounds personal to him...'_ She mused to herself.

"If there's one thing I've learned from my wife over the years it is that science is a field of infinite possibilities. It's just a matter of finding the right combination." Ayika spoke up, having returned with Fuka's wine. "Apologies, I could not help but overhear the tail end of the conversation. You're an impressive young man, George. You should be proud."

"Thank you, sir. Though your praise is unnecessary. I'm simply trying to do my job, at the end of the day. I'm not in this for the fame or glory...though I suppose that is a nice bonus," George remarked. He cleared his throat a moment later, looking a little uncomfortable. "Ah, sorry. That was another joke."

"At any rate, I have to admit I'm surprised you're so calm, Doctor Tanaka. I mean, your keynote address was bumped up two hours early...if I were you, I'm not so certain I'd take it that well," he added.

The Virologist, who had taken a sip of her wine, spat it out upon hearing George's comment. "I beg your pardon?" She growled her left eye twitching. "What do you mean my keynote speech was bumped up two hours?!"

Ayika froze. "Oh no."

George looked decidedly nervous at her reaction, giving another uncomfortable cough before he elaborated. "Ah, my apologies...I thought you knew. The event organizers shuffled the schedule around due to some people dropping out of the conference at the last minute. They made an announcement about this a few hours ago...which means your speech is actually, hm, twenty minutes from now? Or close to that, I believe."

"What the _actual fuck?!"_ Fuka screeched, dropping the wine glass completely as she scrambled to pull her phone out of her purse. Hammering a few buttons on the device, the blue-haired woman put it up to her ears as she began to walk away. "Augustine, what the hell is the meaning of this? No, NO! Why was I not informed of this? Ohhh, you better hope I don't see your sorry ass, or so help me God I'll light that wig of yours on fire!"

Ayika and George silently watched her wander off, the Zoologist sighing. "Yup, so that's basically us Tanakas in a nutshell!" He joked, rubbing his handlebar mustache. "It was nice meeting you George, I can tell Fuka took quite a shine to you. Perhaps later this evening you'd like to meet us for dinner?" He offered nervously. "Assuming Fuka didn't scare you off right then."

George watched after Fuka with morbid fascination, before turning his attention back to the other man. After a few seconds, he nodded his consent. "I think I'd enjoy that, sir. Perhaps after your wife...has calmed down some, we can discuss the finer details."

"Excellent!" Ayika beamed, clearly happy. "We'll meet up after the keynote, then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must try to be a responsible husband and make sure my wife does not set any wigs ablaze." He joked, shoving his hands in his pockets as he began to follow up after his wife. "Adios, Mr. Willoughby!"


	6. LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Tina did her best to slow her breathing as she searched for her target through her rifle's scope. She didn't know who she was targeting; or rather, what they were like as a person. She just knew their name, face, and the fact that they had to die. That's how it was for all of her assignments, and this mission was no different.

Finally, she made visual contact with her target. He was an older man, apparently having lunch in his office. He seemed to be alone for the moment, which only worked out in her favor. Regardless, now that she'd found him, she radioed into her handler. "I have eyes on the target."

"Copy. Do you have a clear shot, Ms. Beaufort?" a male voice asked over the earpiece.

"Roger. I—!" Tina abruptly cut herself off as someone suddenly entered the target's office. The target paused in his eating, looking up at the visitor as they started chatting. "Negative. A civilian just entered into the room. Risk of collateral damage possible."

"Great," the man muttered with a sigh. After a few moments, the voice cut in again, this time more jokingly than before. "Look, just keep an eye open. And try not to fall asleep this time, all right?"

"...Affirmative," Tina replied after a moment, though she sounded more put out this time.

Regardless, she waited, biding her time as she observed her target. After what seemed like an eternity, the hapless civilian finally left the office, leaving him alone. "Target is alone again. I'm taking the shot."

She paused, stilling her breathing one more time as she concentrated. Then, her finger slowly squeezed the trigger of her rifle. Seconds later she fired, the retort of her gun echoing all around. Her target, meanwhile, slumped over the front of his desk, a gaping, bloody hole left in his head.

"Target is down. Repeat, the target is down."

"Roger that, Beaufort," came the voice over her earpiece. "Get out of there and return to base, pronto. And good shooting: with your help, another enemy of Russia has been put down."

Tina didn't respond to that at all. Instead, she stood up from her position and started the lengthy and tedious process of dissembling her sniper rifle. Once that was done, she left the rooftop, proceeding down the series of stairs in the apartment building she'd chosen for her sniper's nest.

A few minutes later she was walking down the streets of Moscow, a carrying case for a guitar slung around her shoulders. No one bothered to stop or question her, even as the blaring of sirens started filling the air, and police cars raced past her.

All the while, she did her best not to think too hard about the man she'd just murdered.

* * *

The catacombs of Paris weren't a place anyone wanted to stay in for too long, for a variety of reasons; and yet, Lugh Quinn was down there all the same. He was down here for a good reason; the latest development in his journey to find the Philosopher's Stone had brought him to these catacombs. If it truly was down here, it would be an invaluable discovery, especially for an alchemist.

Still...it was so damn _creepy_ down here! The remains of the dead filled the place, giving the already foreboding catacombs an air of death and misery. Not to mention, if he wasn't careful...well, he could very well get lost down here, and die. He wouldn't be the first explorer of the catacombs to suffer such a fate…

Lugh took a deep breath, glancing down at his map again as he pondered where he was. The further down he went, the more cold and dark it got. He wasn't worried, however... worst came to worst, his bodyguards would just find his tracker and blast their way through the entire damn catacombs to find him if need be.

The green-haired boy gave a triumphant smirk as he found a hidden door, opening it as he entered the musty room, using his flashlight to illuminate the room, soon coming across a strange puzzle on the wall.

"Well, shit. More puzzles..." He mumbled.

"Indeed. This puzzle is particularly vexing," a voice behind Lugh stated, startling the teen. When he whirled around, Lugh noticed a young woman standing in the room behind him, hidden in the shadows it seemed.

"I've been trying to figure this out for an hour now, but I haven't had any luck yet," she went on, heedless of the fact she'd nearly given Lugh a heart attack.

Lugh took a steady breath, glaring at the woman with narrowed eyebrows. "I'm sorry, who the hell are you?" The young boy subconsciously rubbed at his hand.

"Roberta Williams, Occult Expert," she simply answered. Her gaze lingered on the boy's hand "Pardon my asking, but what is that fascinating red tattoo?"

Lugh's eyes widened, the young boy quickly hiding his hands behind his back as he laughed nervously. "Oh, that's just a family tattoo that signifies that I'm the rightful heir to my dad's fortune... right, I need to introduce myself! I'm Lugh Quinn, the future Supreme Real Estate Mogul. Nice to meet you, sweetheart!" He winked, as his personality did a complete 180.

The green-haired boy gave a lopsided grin, turning around as he ran his hands over the intricate carvings over the walls. "Considering how far you've come, Ms. Williams, I'd wager we're both after the same thing. The Philosopher's Stone, the secret of Nicholas Flamel."

Lugh stopped, his eyes narrowing as he studied a set of runes on the wall.

Roberta didn't give a verbal response, instead, she turned her gaze over to the runes as well. Her eyes scanned them a moment, before she focused her attention back on Lugh. "From what I've been able to determine, something special is needed to solve this puzzle. It won't be an easy task getting in. I had considered stealing some explosives and getting in that way...but the risk of a cave in far outweighed the rewards."

"Hmmm..." Lugh simply hummed in response, frowning as he pulled out a small pocket-sized book, attempting to read to the inscriptions. "I know a few languages, however French is not one of them. Having to use this French to English dictionary is annoying." He grumbled before his eyes widened as he double-checked his translation.

"Well, this is bothersome..." he sighed, closing his book. The green-haired boy glanced over his shoulder, and thinking Roberta wasn't watching, he quickly grasped the metal dais on the wall, closing his eyes and concentrating as he turned it to gold. Once his task was finished, he exhaled a labored breath, wiping away stray bands of sweat from his forehead.

A small rumble permeated the room, a hidden door swinging open in front of them.

"Ah, so you are an alchemist," Roberta suddenly stated, once again startling Lugh. She was staring right at him, looking at his hand with an intense, curious look. "That explains much. It has been some time since I met someone with those particular skills."

The young boy growled, pulling his hand away protectively and backing away from the researcher. "I'm not sure what kind of drivel you're going on about knowing other Alchemists. They may be able to do some fancy things, but I assure you, I'm the real deal."

Lugh sighed, running a hand through his hair. "And that reason alone is why I'm going to be getting the Philosopher's Stone, not you. It needs to go into the right hands."

"Does it now?" Roberta questioned, fixing Lugh with a pointed glare. "And whose hands are those? Yours? A child just diving into the depths of the occult and magical? I think the stone should be in the hands of someone more experienced...but, that presumes it is actually here."

Lugh's face was bright red in annoyance and slight embarrassment.

"This kid has seen more shit in his life than-" He cut off what he was saying and shook his head. He then silently turned around and headed into the new room.

Coming into the next room, the duo discovered a strange contraption hooked up to the next door.

Roberta's brow furrowed as she surveyed the room. "And what is...this? Have you seen something like this before, alchemist?"

"No. I can't tell if it is some sort of Rube Goldberg machine or something else." The green-haired boy frowned, clearly annoyed with her nickname for him. Kneeling down in front of the runes, Lugh once again began deciphering the language.

After a few silence filled minutes, the young boy's eyes widened as he began blushing furiously, rapidly flipping through his translator. "No! This can't be right! What the hell?!" he cried out in mortification.

After a few more desperate checks, Lugh slowly stood up in surrender, his head low. "This machine requires a drop of blood from one pure of heart and sin... in other words, the blood of a virgin..."

"I see..." Roberta nodded solemnly. After a small pause, she glanced over at Lugh expectantly. "Well; I'm waiting, alchemist. Or do you seriously expect me to believe you've somehow managed to lay with a woman?"

By now, Lugh was absolutely mortified. With his beet-red face and green hair, he looked something like a tomato.

"I...I so have!" The alchemist spat back as if trying to convince himself. "...ok, maybe I haven't, but you really expect me to believe someone as obnoxious as you has charmed someone?"

"Hmph," Roberta gave a small snort at Lugh's admission, her lips curving into the tiniest hint of a smirk. "I suppose it depends on your point of view. This body is virginal, but-"

She abruptly cut herself off, pursing her lips for a brief second before moving on. "...Regardless, you're the youngest here. And the youth should listen to their elders. Cut yourself, and bleed over that device already. We can only hope that the device isn't primed specifically for a virginal _maiden's_ blood...as that would not end well for either of us. Though if you were to put on a dress, perhaps you might pass for one as well..."

"Yeah, haven't heard the jokes about me looking feminine in a while..." the alchemist muttered under his breath, swearing obscenities as he pulled out a small pocketknife and applying a small cut to the palm of his hand. His blood dripped into the receptacle, slowly flowing through a tube and eventually settling into a canister. After a few short seconds, the door swung open.

"Thanks, Nicholas Flamel." The green-haired boy joked sarcastically.

Roberta eagerly pushed past Lugh, stepping into the final room as she looked around for her coveted goal. In the middle of the room stood a large pedestal, and on top of that pedestal was...

...Not the Philosopher's Stone. Instead what they found was a folded up piece of paper: and when Lugh opened it up, it turned out to be a note written in English.

"_To all whom find this letter: you punk bitches lost out. Immortality is mine, baby! Better luck next time fuckheads!"_

Upon reading the note and seeing Roberta's mortified face, Lugh smirked at her smugly. "Oh well, it looks like you lose. Life goes on!" He snickered, examining the note and pocketing it. "Thankfully, I can use my vast resources and connections to determine who wrote this note. Their cockiness will be their undoing!"

The alchemist bowed mockingly to Roberta. "This has been fun, sweetheart. Where are ya going next?"

Roberta scowled for a moment, before heaving a large sigh. "I suppose it figures. It seems my quest will continue on again...how long will I have to bear this curse?"

Sighing again, she shook her head and reached into her pocket. She fished out a small shard of crystal, which began to glow with an eerie blue light. "I shall continue on as I always have throughout the years. Goodbye, alchemist. Good luck on losing your virginity; I have a feeling you'll need it."

With that, she was suddenly consumed by a bright blue light. Once the light faded, she had completely vanished.

* * *

It was never an easy deal to talk to the police, even when one was completely innocent of any wrong-doing. It was only natural to feel nervous in the face of scrutiny, and given the sometimes ill reputation, the police had...well, it wasn't a fun experience for anyone involved.

Nora couldn't help but feel doubly nervous now, however. She anxiously drummed her fingers on the table, looking over at the door now and again as she waited for someone to come see her. She'd been in the interrogation room for almost an hour now...and more than anything else, she just wanted to rest. She'd hardly been free from her killing game for a day when the police had found her and scooped her up.

They'd promise to set her up in a hotel for a few days as they figured out her situation...but first, she had to do an interview with them. So here she was, waiting for a detective to finally come and speak with her.

Augustine Pryce drummed his fingers on the table as he looked over the questions his boss had prepared for him to ask the poor girl. He'd been told to be hard on her in questioning, and August could not help but roll his eyes at the thought. This girl had clearly been through a lot.

He yawned, stretching his legs as he stood up and walked into the interrogation room, closing the door behind him and pulling up his chair. As he sat down, he gave Nora a reassuring smile. "Hi, my name is Detective Augustine Pryce, but my friends call me August. Do you know why we called you in here today?"

Nora jumped a little as the detective entered into the room. She nodded once at him, doing her best to act demure and polite. "Y-Yes, sir. It was because I escaped from a killing game, right?"

"Well, partially." The detective explained, shuffling his papers as he studied the young girl before him. "We have little knowledge right now regarding your game, and we need to ask you a few questions. And, well..." August hesitated, before deciding to tell her the truth. "We also need to determine if you are a... menace to society."

Nora deflated a little at that...though she wasn't too surprised. She'd been thinking they might be afraid of something like that. "Right...w-well, I guess that's fair, sir. What do you want to know?"

"Well... let's start with the mastermind and any outside connections they have. Anything you can tell out would be great." August urged.

Nora nodded once, pausing as she tried to collect her thoughts. "Our Mastermind was an older woman...I think her name was Dorinda? It's hard to recall for sure. It seemed like she was definitely apart of some larger group, but I don't know much more than that. Sorry."

The detective nodded, humming as he jotted down q few quick notes. "That seems to be the running theme these days. Nobody seems to know where they pop up from. Oh well, nothing we can do about that right now, frustrating as it is." He sighed, shaking his head. "Now, how about other survivors?"

"There were just...three of us, sir. But we all seem to have been...dropped off in different areas, or something. I'm...not sure where the others are right now," she replied after a moment, a frustrated edge to her tone.

"That's fine, don't worry about it!" he detective assured her in an attempt to keep her at ease. "These are all just formality questions that you just need to the best of your ability." August paused for a moment, flipping through his notes. "Now, just a few personal questions, if you don't mind... have you been experiencing any of the follow? Insomnia, lack of apatite, decreased motor skills, or fatigue?"

"I've...been having a little trouble sleeping since my game, but...nothing more than that, sir," Nora said, shaking her head.

August smiled, writing down her response. "That's good. To be perfectly honest with you, it could be much worse. The PTSD I have seen some people get is terrible. Last question: Have you had any sudden violent outbursts, thoughts of suicide, or murder?"

"No! Not at all!" Nora vehemently denied. She sniffled a little, doing her best to try and keep her tears at bay. "I didn't fall into Despair, sir. Not at all. I... wouldn't want to disgrace the memory of those who didn't make it through my game."

"Well said." The detective nodded, closing his notebook shut and standing up."I think we're just about done here, we'll turn you over to a physician for a physical and you should be free to go. Is there anything you need or want to know?"

"Well...if you find my friends, will you let me know?" Nora softly inquired. The detective nodded at that, and a moment later, he left the room.

After a few minutes, the door opened again, and a young woman stepped inside. She smiled wide at Nora and reached over to shake her hand. "Hello there, Nora! I'm Doctor Sophea Kaliyanei. I'll be conducting your physical. Can you please follow me?"

* * *

Aika Usami stared ahead at her aunt and uncle's home, her hands shaking slightly. She'd traveled a long way to get back here, and now that she'd finally arrived...well, she almost couldn't believe it. Part of her wondered if she was dreaming: maybe all this was just a fantasy, and soon enough she'd wake up back in her killing game.

But she knew this was real. Despite everything that had happened, she had escaped...and now she was back home.

So she took a deep, calming breath, and fixed her dress one last time. Then, after a slight pause, she walked to the front door and slowly knocked on it.

Yoshiko Kiyota's ears perked up as she heard a knocking on the door. She continued to wash the dishes, turning to her husband. "Hiroji dear, will you open it?"

Hiroji nodded, folding up his newspaper as he opened the front door, his eyes widening in surprise as Aika stood before him. "Aika? Is that you?!"

"Hi, Uncle," Aika replied, giving him a hesitant wave. A small, uncertain smile rested on her face, as she tried to master her emotions. "I'm...I'm back."

A happy smile appeared on her uncle's face, as he turned back into the house. "Honey! It's Aika! Aika's back!"

Yoshiko came running to the door, gasping as she saw Aika, running up and giving the girl a hug. "Ohhh, sweetie! When you were kidnapped we feared the worst! Come in, I was just fixing to make dinner!"

Her aunt and uncle quickly ushered her in, Yoshiko sitting her on the couch and covering her in a blanket. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

Aika settled onto the couch, feeling some of her tension ease its way out of her body as she came inside. She really was home now, wasn't she? Or close to it. She really had escaped that awful, horrid game...and all the horrible people in it.

"I-I'm fine...I think. I just...I'm just glad to be back, Auntie. I wasn't sure if I'd ever come back," she replied after a moment, giving a small sniffle.

"Oh, well here take some water!" Yoshiko insisted, setting it down on the table in front of her. "You rest up now, you hear? We'll take care of the rest!"

"That's right!" Her uncle agreed. "Now, we would ask for the details about what happened, but... that can wait. While we get dinner ready, why don't you go see your cousins? They'll be ecstatic to see you, I'm sure! They're upstairs, go say hi!" He insisted, his voice leaving no room for debate.

"Right...of course..." Aika replied, her smile wavering for a moment. She stood up and approached the stairs, staring back briefly at her aunt and uncle before ascending the steps.

She paused again in the hallway, sighing briefly before she schooled her features. She walked down the hall, and lightly knocked on one of the doors to her cousins' rooms; specifically, the twins.

Akari and Usagi paused, the two having been trying out different sets of clothing to prepare for their night out. Usagi sighed, rolling her eyes. "We'll be downstairs in a few minutes, mom!" She yelled.

When the knocking persisted, Akari grumbled, getting up from her bed and opening the door, gasping upon seeing Aika. "No damn way! Usagi, guess who's back home? It's Little Bo Peep!"

The other twin snickered, standing up. "And it seems the little dumb sheep found her way back home. I bet even her kidnappers realized how pathetic and worthless she was, and just let her go."

"Akari, Usagi, it's nice to see you both again," Aika cheerfully replied, beaming at them both. "I did escape my game...but, well, it wasn't as easy as my kidnappers letting me go. It...would have gone a lot better if it *had* been that easy. But, I survived! And I'm back now...oh, you can't believe how much I missed you both!"

Before either of the twins could protest, Aika leaned forward and wrapped them both in a bone-crushing hug. When they almost immediately started squirming, she, of course, let them go, but as she did so, something was jostled from within her own clothing and fell onto the floor.

It was a knife with dark, dried out stains that looked suspiciously like blood.

"Oh!" Aika quickly ducked and grabbed the knife, stowing it away in the folds of her sleeves. "Sorry, I...well, I brought that with me from my game. I had to defend myself at times, but, ah...well, I'd rather not talk about it."

The twin's faces paled, and Usagi looked like she was fighting back bile in her throat.

Akari was the first to recover, the scared girl forcing a smile on her face. "O-oh, how... _brave_ of you, Aika!" She gushed, her cousin's name was foreign to her lips as it was the first time she had called the girl by her real name.

"Y-yeah! Totally!" Usagi agreed, nodding her head up and down like a bobblehead. "Hey, sis, I just had a fantabulous idea! Let's take Aika on a shopping spree tomorrow! To celebrate her coming back home!"

"Wonderful idea!" Akari replied, though her tone suggested it was anything but wonderful. "What do you say, Aika?"

"A shopping spree? Oh, that sounds wonderful! You two are the best cousins a girl could ask for!" Aika beamed. She clasped her hands together in joy, a bright smile on her face.

"We never hung out that much before...but, now, things will be better, I just know it! The entire time I was trapped...all I could think of was coming home, and being with you all again. Especially the two of you! Tasuku means well, I know, but...well, I don't think he ever really liked me. But, I always considered you two as my best friends! And now that I'm back, we'll be spending lots and _lots_ of time together! Ooh, this is going to be wonderful!" she declared, before reaching over to hug them both again, this time even tighter than before.

"So wonderful!" The twins said in monotone unison, hesitantly returning her hug. As they pulled away, it was clear that the two were sweating.

"Hey, Aika! Why don't you go say hi to Tasuku! We know he's given you a hard time, but I'm sure he'll come around now that you're home!" Akari suggested, her smile strained.

Usagi bit her lip. "Right! And while you're doing that, we'll go clean your room for you! Y'know, to help you get comfortable since you've returned! You should take it easy!"

"Aww, you'd really do that for me?" Aika questioned, sniffling a little as tears gathered at her eyes. She nodded firmly to herself a moment later and beamed at her cousins one more time. "I think I will! Guess I'll see you two again for dinner. I know I can't wait; I've really missed Auntie's home cooking!"

That said, Aika merrily made her way out of the twin's room. She traveled down the hall, pausing before Tasuku's door. She hesitated for a moment longer, then knocked on it. "Cousin Tasuku? It's me, Aika. I'm...I'm back."

A moment later, the door opened as Tasuku scowled, narrowing his eyes at her. "Great. Sheep lover is back. Another girl I have to share the bathroom with. What the hell were you three squealing about next door?"

"Oh, I was just telling Akari and Usagi just how much I missed them. And I missed you too, Tasuku!" Aika replied. She smiled up at him, before giving a small pout as she tapped a finger to her lips. "That killing game...it really was awful. I know they've been all over the news these days, but...still, I don't think I was prepared for it. I...had to do a lot of things there, you know. I saw a lot of awful things. But...it's over now! And I'm back with my family!"

Tasuku raised an eyebrow as he snorted. "You in a killing game? And living to tell about it? Yeah right. Hell, I bet you just ran away and are now coming back with this story to make yourself seem more impressive and interesting." He folded his arms, a sneer on his face. "My idiot sisters may have bought that bullcrap, but I sure don't."

"Tasuku...how could you say that! I *was* in a killing game!" Aika protested, sniffling some more as she tried to hold back her tears. "It was awful! I saw so many people die...and I...I..."

Aika trailed off, trembling as she openly cried in front of her cousin. A moment later she dashed down the hall, and back down the stairs.

Half an hour later, dinner was about ready. The entire family was gathered together at the dinner table, except for Aika and her aunt; she was helping her in slicing up some vegetables for the salad.

"You know, Auntie, I've gotten a lot better with a knife now; I think I've gotten a lot of practice in chopping things up since I was gone," Aika cheerfully reported to her aunt. At the same time, the tv was on in the background, and a news report started airing...

"_...Police and the Future Foundation now report that they've found the site for yet another Killing Game. This one seems to have been completed, however, and while we don't have any confirmation yet, it seems there were few survivors. Our sources say that this game took place in an abandoned hospital in the country-side and that dozens of missing Ultimates were found dead inside. Most were gruesomely murdered by what preliminary reports suggest were a pair of sheep shears..."_

The twins visibly paled, and Tasuku spat put the water he was drinking, his eyes wide.

"My god, how barbaric." Hiroji sighed, setting a napkin in his lap as his wife and niece began serving food. "These games truly bring out the worst in people."

The two twins gave Aika nervous smiles, thanking her politely. Tasuku, meanwhile, felt the blood drain from his face as his cousin served him next, laying out a plate of steak for him that suspiciously looked like it had been cut with a cookie cutter into the shape of a decapitated human body.

"Indeed, but I'm so glad to have little Aika back!" Yoshiko beamed, being the last to sit at the table. "Isn't it great kids?"

The three of them nodded in unison, and Tasuku awkwardly reached over next to him and gave Aika a small hug.

Aika beamed at her cousin, gladly hugging him back before focusing on the plate in front of her. "And I'm glad to be back, Auntie! It's good to be home."

* * *

As the world cautiously entered the year 2021, the population was feeling tense. It had been years since the Tragedy came to an end, but the world still felt like a hectic place. Killing games had still been popping up, many only being discovered when their survivors finally managed to gain their freedom. The Future Foundation had been doing all it could to get control of the situation, but it seemed like more than just the remnants of Ultimate Despair had to be responsible for the sheer number of these games. One night a new television and radio frequency started being broadcast all over the world. The Foundation scrambled to determine the source, but every time it was traced it seemed to lead to a different place at almost pure randomness. At first, the broadcasts only had the same ominous message."February 2021"

The broadcast would continue to crop up, still with an unknown origin and display the same message. Then at one point, in the middle of January, at a random time that day, the signal came back, but this time with much more than a still image. A video began streaming. The camera was settled on a snowy field that seemed to stretch on for miles, save for the snow falling around the area, there seemed to be nothing there. Save for one thing, a humanoid figure just standing in the middle of the field. The person was fully cloaked in black clothing, but they were covered in a rainbow of accents. They looked up to the camera showing off a colorful skull mask that was black at its base.

"Greetings everyone, it's your new best friend, Dios! I'm glad you could join me for this very special announcement," they explained. As Dios talked, their voice changed and shifted between a wide range of voices and pitches. It was hard to determine if any of the various male and female voices were the person's natural one. "You at the Future Foundation may remember me from such films as, me effortlessly breaking into many of your facilities and taking what I want, and kidnapping people under your protection. I had to take quite a lot to set all this up, so put it on my tab!"

"Now let's quit beating around the bush, and get right to the reason I'm standing here talking to all you lovely people. Why it's to tell you all about a fun new game, that you'll be reading all about soon!" Dios' voice shifted to sound more fitting from a 1920's radio announcer. "But I know you all know this isn't just any old game, it's a killing game! With a twist! Now we have had so many killing games these days, so it needs something to stand out. And it will star contestants from other killing games! Hosted by yours truly of course. I'll be calling this the 'All-Star Killing Game!'"

As Dios explained, their hands began to let off a silvery glowing aura. The ground all around them began to shake hard as the fallen snow was kicked up. Dios maintained concentration as their body floated into the air. As they rose, however, something behind them burst from the ground. Tall towers made of rock and glass were the first to breach the surface, but a much larger structure followed in behind it. The gigantic stone castle began to settle in place, throwing the snow around in a frenzy. After a few minutes, the castle finally came to a stop and Dios landed back in front of the camera.

"The game will be taking place here in the lovely Castle Greyhawk! This beautiful old castle can be found in beautiful, redacted. Come on FF, that's your job to figure out! For now, I hope you the audience have enjoyed our pre-show entertainment! Stay tuned in the next month or so for the official beginning. Tata!"

Dios grabbed the sides of their jacket and gave a curtsey before dissolving in a cloud of silver mist. The video sat trained on the large ancient-looking castle for a few moments until the signal was cut off.


	7. Thrills, Chills, and Kills: Prologue 0-1

_Present Day, Present Time_

Yumei Mao slowly found herself stirring into consciousness. With her mind foggy with sleep, she at first unable to discern anything about her situation until a haze of memories returned to her.

With a start, Yumei bolted upright, wide awake now. Her eyes darted all over, her heart racing as she struggled to get a sense of her surroundings.

She was...in a room of some kind? A very rustic one by the looks of it, populated only by a trio of beds, including her own. The other two beds also seemed to have their own occupants...a girl near her own age, and an older woman perhaps in her late thirties. Neither were a sight that was concerning in and of itself...if not for the fact she didn't remember going to sleep in this room.

Yumei narrowed her eyes, warily getting off of the bed a moment later. Her head was a little woozy, but she felt otherwise fine. A quick check over her body seemed to prove she wasn't in ill health. Still, she couldn't help but hold a hand protectively to the bulge of her pregnant belly, while her free hand tensed and curled up, ready for action at a moment's notice.

"Are either of you awake?" Yumei finally addressed the other two slumbering girls, after a few moments of silence.

Fuka Tanaka's eyes creaked open upon hearing the voice, blinking as she tried to adjust to the sudden light. The woman's senses felt a bit discombobulated, her brain slowly kickstarting as she processed and organized her thoughts.

Fuka gasped, a sense of panic kicking in as she recalled the strange people who had barged into her secluded home and kidnapped her. The Virologist stood, her legs shaking as she regained her footing. She then noticed the albino woman across from her. Sensing no hostility. Fuka cautiously cleared her throat. "I believe I am now, thank you," she breathed while adjusting her cloak.

"Y-Yeah..." Kogo said as she sat up from her bed. She began stroking her indigo-hued braid as she looked around the room. "I'm willing to bet that you both find this is as weird as I do, right?"

Yumei gave a small nod. "That I do. The last thing I remember, I was getting a prenatal checkup at my local clinic. Then...well, I'm not entirely sure what happened. I don't suppose either of you recognize this room?"

When she saw them shake their heads, Yumei scowled. "Then...this had better not be what I think it is. But...I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. I am Yumei Mao, the Ultimate Shaolin Monk; it is a pleasure to meet you both."

The blue-haired woman chewed on her thumb, knowing what Yumei was implying. "I'll be blunt, this does not look good; in fact, I was abducted from my home..." She shook her head. "But that is irrelevant for the moment. It is nice to meet you, Yumei. My name is Fuka Tanaka, the former Perfect Virologist."

Kogo looked lost in thought for a moment as she gazed at Fuka. Once she noticed that both of them were facing her, the girl shook her head and decided to introduce herself as well. "O-Oh right, I'm Kogo Rukki, the Paramount Charm! Heh, weird talent, right?" Kogo joked dryly as she rolled her eyes. After a moment she looked over at Fuka again. "And, I don't think it's irrelevant to our situation...Was it somebody with a skull mask?"

The Virologist swallowed the lump in her throat. "Now that you mention it...yes. The person kept going on about how my 'time for penance had come' or something of the sort." Fuka sighed, shaking her head. "As Yumei said, we should not jump the gun but..." she trailed off.

"Well, I think mine was a woman, but that sounds like almost the same thing I remember hearing..." Kogo explained quietly. Pausing, she took a deep breath and looked back up. "Sorry, I don't mean to be so negative, but there aren't many good ways this situation could go, are there?"

Yumei glanced over at Fuka, eyeing her curiously, before shaking her head. She'd have time to ask her questions later; for now, well, they had a much more pressing issue to deal with.

"Not really. Still, until we have a better grasp on our situation, there's no point dwelling on what could be going on," Yumei declared. Her eyes scanned the room again, lingering on the only other notable thing: the door leading out. "I don't think there's much we can find in this room. But, outside..."

"...We will most likely find other people." Fuka finished, oblivious to Yumei's strange looks. "That should be our first priority." The red-eyed woman wiped away a bead of sweat from her forehead, doing her best to not appear anxious. It was clear all three of them had the same guess as to what was happening on their mind but were too nervous to utter it out loud. "Does that sound good to you two?"

Before Yumei or Kogo could answer, there was a sharp knock at the door. After a few seconds it swung open, and a mountain of a man stepped inside.

He was tall and wide, his body bulging with overdeveloped muscles that pressed against his winter coat. Perhaps most notably, however, was his age: he appeared to be decades older than any of the women in the room, if his white beard, wrinkled skin, and liver spots were any indication. And yet despite the man's advanced age, he maintained the powerful physique of a bodybuilder in his prime.

"Hello there! I don't mean to startle you three, but I was looking for any stragglers here," the stranger began, his lips forming into a pleasant smile. "I'm Naoki Watanabe, the honorary Ultimate Archer. It's great to meet you all!"

Kogo's eyes widened as she stared up at the man. "Wah! Err, excuse me, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Watanabe. Did you say 'straggler' as in there are others?"

"That there are, little miss! Yes...there are quite a few of us here. Kaizoku and I decided to split up and see if this place had any other people here...and, well, I found you three!" Naoki confirmed.

Yumei, meanwhile, stared up at Naoki with keen interest. She briefly took in his hulking stature, wondering to herself just how he managed to maintain such a body at his age. "I see. So there are more...Somehow, I am not surprised."

"Neither am I," Fuka added, a hint of a defeated sigh in her voice. "Mr. Watanabe, thank you for coming to get us. I assume everyone else is waiting for us?" she inquired, adjusting her glasses.

"_Kaizoku? No way!"_ Kogo thought as she let her mind drift off. With a nod, she smiled as she looked over the group. "We shouldn't keep everyone waiting, so let's go. Umm, Yumie, do you need a hand?"

Yumei's first instinct was to brush away the offered help, but she thought better of it a moment later. "Ah...If you do not mind overmuch. It is somewhat...difficult for me to get around these days, so I might be a little slow."

"That's not a problem at all, dear. Please, if you need me to carry you at all, just say the word! It's the least I can do for an expecting mother!" Naoki graciously offered before loosening a boisterous chuckle.

After all was said, Naoki led the three of them out the door. They walked down a large hallway, Naoki spearheading their little group all the while, making sure to keep a slow, measured pace for Yumei's sake. After a minute, the elderly man took them down a series of stairs to the ground floor…which, at a glance, seemed to be a bar or tavern of some sort.

It was a wide area, with tables and chairs set all over. In the back of the room, there was what was obviously a bar, untouched liquor bottles and dirty glasses spread about its countertop. And interspersed among the room were six other individuals, including, most concerningly, two little girls.

From his table, in the far corner of the room, Rafael checked the equipment on his person. As he counted the bullets in the magazine of his pistol, he looked up and saw the group make their entrance. Quickly, he put his gun back together, holstered it, and stood from his seat. "Well, look what we have here. It seems there really are more people locked in this hellhole than first expected," he said as he began to make his way toward them.

"Was there ever any doubt?" one of the younger girls, Natalya, asked with a neutral look on her face. Her eyes widened a bit when she noticed one of the women was pregnant. Mouth curving into a frown, she stared at the ground. "Kidnapping children, and even pregnant women? I suppose whoever brought us here truly doesn't care about us."

"Someone who'd go through this much trouble definitely doesn't have our wellbeing in mind," an athletic woman leaning against a support pillar stated. "Suppose introductions are in order now, yeah? So the new girls know who we are. I'm Auryon Mercelina, the Ultimate Slayer."

"George Willoughby, the Elite Medical Doctor," a dark-haired man introduced himself in turn from his table. He looked closer at the group, his eyes opening slightly as he caught sight of Fuka. "Doctor Tanaka? Is that you?"

Fuka's face paled considerably, the woman lowering her head. "Yes, it is. It's good to see you again, Doctor Willoughby. I wish it were under better circumstances." The Virologist took a deep breath, raised her head, and gave him a small smile. "Nonetheless, it is good to see a familiar face here."

"Speaking of familiar faces, I sure didn't expect to see a classmate here, right, Kogo? Anyways, once Captain Blackbeard gets back from his search we may have more people coming too," Kagome happily mused as she stepped up. She took care to smooth out her uniform, trying her best to keep it neat.

Kogo's face lit up after seeing the Paramount Manager. "Kagome?! Wow, this is getting crazy. And 'Captain Blackbeard'... Kaizoku really is here too? What are the odds of that..." the Charm muttered.

"I guess some of the people here know each other," the other little girl in the group mused. Much like Rafael she was armed, having what was very clearly a sniper rifle in her tiny hands; though the barrel of said rifle was pointed up toward the ceiling in a non-threatening gesture. "I am Tina Beaufort, the Star Sniper."

Yumei glanced back and forth between Rafael and Tina, feeling somewhat uneasy with their armed status. But, perhaps it would be for the better; if they were armed, then they could easily take on whoever it was that kidnapped them.

Then again...would their kidnapper really have left them with their weaponry, if he or she wasn't confident in their ability to somehow circumvent their guns?

"Wait a moment...You're Yumei Mao, aren't you?" Rafael abruptly asked, staring over at her with dubious intent.

Any further thought was banished from Yumei's mind, however, at Rafael's question. She nodded her head, replying, "...I am, yes. I suppose you saw the broadcast of my game?"

Rafael glared at Yumei in silence for a moment, eyes focused on her before his gaze softened and he took a deep breath.

"Yes...I did see you. On the Railway...But let's not worry about that for now. I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Rafael Velasco, the great emancipator and chancellor of the great country of Cuzco. Some have called me the Ultimate Revolutionary, but I've always disliked such titles," he claimed, crossing his arms.

"Wait, you were in a Killing Game?" Auryon interjected, raising an eyebrow at the monk. "Well, how about that. So was I."

"As was I," Tina murmured.

That set off a round of confirmations...It seemed almost everyone in the room had been involved in a Killing Game of one variety or another. The sole exception seemed to be Naoki, who denied ever being in one. Regardless, Yumei felt the pit in her stomach growing deeper and deeper still upon that realization.

"This isn't a coincidence, the Lord has told me so," murmured a tall boy, his wings fluttering behind him nervously as he petted a cat on his shoulder. "My name is Hapi Neureal, the Divine Archangel, and my partner here is Azzur. Do not fear, the Lord shall guide us to safety." He smiled gently, clasping a hand against his chest.

"I am certain the Lord didn't guide all of us here, it was someone else entirely." the young brunette with streaks of neon green replied, sounding exasperated. She brushed some hair behind her ear, standing firmly on her feet as she looked around the room. "I suppose I shall introduce myself as well. My name is Natalya Chemovsky, the Supreme Elementary Level Nuclear Physicist. It is a pleasure to meet you all...Well, it's a pleasure to meet some of you," she said, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Before any more could be said, a collection of footsteps sounded from a door behind the bar area. After a moment, a group of five people and one large German Shepherd came into the common room. At the head of the group was Kaizoku who smirked as he looked around the room.

"Looks like your search went pretty well too, aye Gramps?" the Sailor mused. He gestured to the girl currently hugging onto the dog. "It's a good thing you let Sadie come with me, otherwise the lass here would've been tough to come with me. Aye Nana?"

"Nana doesn't want to talk to you smelly humans, all she needs is the doggie and maybe the robo too, chirp!" she explained matter of factly as she pointed her gloved hand at Amar who stood beside her.

The robot looked from the girl and back to the crowd before him. "Please forgive Nana, she seems to have some...problems with being around people. She loves animals, though, and even calls herself the 'Best Veterinarian' because of it. As for me, I am Amar Manas, the Advanced Therapist," he said with a bow.

"Ha! You're quite welcome, young man. I'm just pleased to see Sadie made a new friend!" Naoki cheered.

Yumei, meanwhile, eyed Amar with pursed lips, uncomfortably reminded of the last time she'd come face to face with a robot in a situation such as this. She tried to push past those feelings and switched her gaze over to Kaizoku.

"Kaizoku..." she murmured, and a spark of recognition flashed in her eyes. "Aren't you with the Future Foundation? I remember seeing you on the news. And...weren't you also in a Killing Game?"

"Aye, that I was, lass. Naoki and I were on a mission with the Foundation before waking up here..." he sighed with his arms crossed over his chest. Once he turned to look over to Yumei, however, his jaw dropped. "Kogo! What the blazes are you doing here?!"

In an instant, the Sailor made his way over and gave the girl a hug. The girl returned the hug before they broke apart. "I wish I knew myself, Zoku, but it's good to see you again; it's been too long."

"Future Foundation?" the Revolutionary muttered, taking out a cigar and placing it in his mouth before lighting it. "It seems that even those high and mighty Japanese lapdogs have managed to get themselves captured on this occasion," he said, blowing out a large cloud of smoke.

Takehiko Kioi laughed dryly as he made his way to the edge of the group. He leaned against one of the tables before staring back down at the others. "Hardly matters who any of us are aligned with, you still got captured all the same. The only one of you that really looks like they'd be of any interest is the old man. Looks like it'd be a good fight. I would like to spar with the monk girl too, but it would hardly be a match right now."

Yumei glowered at the man, her ire rising at that statement. Still...well, he _was_ right. She was hardly in any state to fight given her condition; not to mention her doctors had warned her against strenuous sparring during these last few weeks of her pregnancy.

"Honestly, all this should be the least of our worries..." Fuka sighed, glaring at the bunch. "We all know why we're probably here, right? There's no purpose in beating around the bush."

"Yes, the little miss is right; I think there's a clear reason why we've all been brought here," Naoki stated, nodding at Fuka. He had a troubled look on his face, his wrinkles made all the more prominent by the frown. "We're in a Killing Game."

"Right you are! Not that it was a very hard puzzle to figure out. Was it?" a disembodied called out. It seemed to shift as it talked, before finally settling into a masculine voice. "It seems this party has had their introductions, so what do you say we start the session?"

As the voice continued its booming announcement, a silver mist began spreading around the tavern. Within moments, it began to clump up until it took on human shapes. All of them looked like adults from the medieval era with how they were dressed. The man that formed behind the bar proceeded to pour drinks, while one of the women took to serving people seated in various parts of the room.

"Jesus!" George yelped, startled out of his seat when a figure popped into existence at his table.

"Did...Did that just happen? Did all these people really just...appear here?" Yumei inquired of the others, blinking her eye rapidly. "And did anyone else hear that voice just now?"

"Wahh! Robo, pupper, help me! Make the scary voice go away, meow!" Nana cried out as she continued hugging and clinging onto the dog. Sadie, for her part, began to growl as she looked over the newly formed crowd.

"Calm yourselves. This is all likely an illusion created by the one who brought us here," Natalya warned. She took a deep breath, steeling her nerves. "If we start panicking, we'll lose touch with reality and won't be able to figure out what is going on. Let's all remain calm and think logically. With what's been happening in the world, it's likely this is all created with magic or something of the sort," she continued, glancing around the room.

"R-Right, we shouldn't be so worried. We just need to—" Kogo started to explain as she took a step back towards Yumei's side; however, as she did so, the floorboards began to creak and splinter. The Charm squeaked in surprise as she stumbled to the side. The newly formed waitress didn't have time to dodge as Kogo collided with her leg and the two tumbled to the ground. Frothy ale spilled all over the pair, soaking them and the floor itself.

Amar stared blankly for a moment as he watched Kaizoku move to help Kogo back to her feet. "This does not make sense. Miss Natalya's assertion that this was an illusion was the only thing that would explain how they appeared so suddenly." The Therapist's eyes began to glow even brighter for a moment before dulling again. "This is odd. They all seem to be giving off heat and vital signals, just like a normal human being."

"Illusion or not, it doesn't matter," Rafael stated, drawing his machete. "If they're a threat, the only question that matters is whether they bleed."

Naoki reached over with lightning reflexes, seizing hold of the Revolutionary's arm. He stared down at him with a thunderous glare. "Violence should not be our first option! Besides, there are children present!"

"I am sixteen years old," Tina calmly interjected.

"I rest my case!" Naoki added, undeterred.

"The old man's right about that. We shouldn't just start attacking these folks willy nilly, even if they came outta nowhere," Auryon agreed. "Though this place is really starting to give me the creeps."

"Let us remain calm. God's protection is upon us," Hapi declared, having bowed his head in prayer. "He will not forsake us."

"Hate to break it to ya, but God has already forsaken me once, and I'm sure it'll happen again," Fuka replied, giving the Archangel a look. "Our first line of thought should be trying to find out what our captor wants us to do."

"Well, it is your choice really. For starters, you can stay in here and maybe enjoy a round on me. I suppose you could also get rough with these commoners, but I'm not sure they'd be worth much experience. Or you could get a head start on your quest and head out into the world," the voice explained, calling out once again. The silver mist reappeared and a large wooden door materialized against what was previously just a bare wall. "When you're ready, come find me at my castle."

"Cyka blyat! This is all just a game to them...I didn't watch a few of my friends die just so that I could be dragged here," Natalya snapped in anger. "I'm strongly against doing as they ask, but we don't have a choice in the matter. If we want answers, we need to go to this castle. We should tread carefully; there could be a number of traps laid out ahead of us."

"That we should. Kaizoku, let's take up the front. Everyone else should stick behind us: we'll keep you all safe best as we can!" Naoki declared.

"I, too, dislike the idea of doing as our captor wants...but it seems we have little recourse for our situation," Yumei sighed. "Very well. Let us be off."

Nodding, Naoki and Kaizoku soon led the way on over to the door. Opening it up revealed the outside world...or what could be seen of it, at least. A thick, frigid fog clung to the air, making it difficult to see even two feet in front of themselves. Regardless, this seemed to be the group's only way forward.

The Sailor sighed as he looked out into the area, running a hand through his beard. "Looks like this is going to be tough. Not too sure on where we're headed, can't get any bearing in this fog. Shame we don't have any scent for Sadie to follow either," he muttered as he walked over and grabbed a torch off the outside of the tavern. "Be sure to stay close, everyone!"

"Pirate man better not get us lost! Bark!" Nana called out as she shyly stood beside Amar. The dog moved to walk in step with the two men at the front, looking more on edge than earlier.

Yumei followed along with the rest of the group, hugging the rear as she did her best to keep up. Thankfully, Kogo was at her side, helping her along, though it still felt a little humiliating. As much as she loved her babies, they certainly didn't do her physical mobility any favors.

And then there was the weather. Yumei couldn't help the violent shiver that shook her body, painfully aware of how little her thin maternity robe warded against the cold. "I am certainly not dressed for this weather..."

"Tell me about it, I feel like I'm freezing my ass off here," Auryon grumbled as she rubbed her bare shoulders. "Could always be worse though. At least we aren't Mister Bare-Chested Pirate over there."

"Hehe, well, Zoku was never really much for shirts growing up, and even then it was usually only a tank-top," Kogo said as she offered a small smile. She did her best to try and wrap an arm around Yumei, feeling herself starting to shiver 'thanks' to her own short skirt.

Takehiko walked past the group of girls as he zipped up his own black jacket. "It hardly matters, enough time out in the cold will probably get to any of us. Eh, maybe not the robot, I guess. Better hurry up before you just become dead weight." The karateka didn't even bother to look back at them as he continued to walk forward.

Yumei glowered at Takehiko, the embers of her anger flaring up once more. Before she could dwell on it too long, however, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

"I don't know what his deal is, but that definitely isn't how you treat a young girl," George stated. He smiled down at her, though it seemed a little strained and awkward for him as if he weren't used to smiling. "Don't mind him, Yumei. If experience has taught me anything, it'd be best just to ignore him."

Yumei smiled gratefully at the Doctor. She opened her mouth to reply in turn, but that same mysterious voice suddenly returned.

"Well, it sure is getting boring waiting for you to arrive...so why don't I spice things up a little? How about a random encounter?" the voice declared with a chuckle. A moment later the rickety sound of rolled dice could be heard. "Ooh, now this will be fun. Time to roll initiative!"

"Were...Were those dice?" Fuka frowned, adjusting her glasses. "We're being treated like this is some kind of board game...and what do they mean by 'initiative?'"

"Oh what the fuck have I gotten myself into?" Rafael groaned in frustration.

"Did anyone else feel that? Like the earth is shaking..." Kaizoku muttered as he held out the touch. The fog started to pull back a bit, forming a large sphere. As the area cleared, several tombstones came into view around the path the group had been walking. The dirt under most of them was shifting and disturbing the ground around them. One by one, figures began making their way up to the open air. Long dead corpses rose up to their feet, each with various signs of decay and injuries.

Amar stared at the zombies that surrounded them in disbelief. "It would seem that there will be nothing but impossible events occurring around us. These people have no vital signs..."

"This is...far too familiar. It reminds me of a board game my father and I used to play a lot before I left Russia. When you roll for initiative, you are rolling for the turn order. That means we have to defeat these things, or else we're going to die, or worse...get torn apart alive by them," the Nuclear Physicist said firmly. "At least they aren't Death Claws or Super Mutants...I wish I had some mini-nukes with me."

"Good heavens! What on earth..." Naoki murmured in disbelief, even as the undead started shuffling toward their direction. Before he could say anything else, a sudden shriek of terror interrupted him.

The shriek came from Yumei, who felt something slimy grab her ankle. She whipped her head down, spotting a rotting zombie missing its legs. The creature leaned in to bite her leg. Without thinking, Yumei raised her other foot and immediately stomped on its head, crushing it with ease and spraying herself and others with its odorous viscera.

At the same time, another zombie stumbled out of the fog and lurched at Amar, sending them both crashing to the ground. Its teeth weren't very effective against Amar's metallic skin, but it still tried to bite at him all the same.

Rafael stumbled back, swinging his machete and taking off a zombie's head. "First weaponized pastries, and now this?! What did I do to deserve this bullshit?!"

Fuka swallowed, closing her eyes as she systematically began low sweeping the zombies' legs, knocking them to the ground. "Anyone that can't fight, stay close to someone who can!"

Hapi heeded her advice, huddling close to the Virologist before closing his eyes. "Thank you, Doctor Tanaka! May God's blessings be with you!"

Takehiko scoffed as he swung his leg, turning one of the approaching zombie's head into mush. "So much for an encounter. I wouldn't call dealing with these fools 'fighting'; they are barely holding together."

Amar calmly looked at the zombie attempting to bite into him, then raised a fist and punched it. While not strong enough to kill it outright, it did get the robot freed so he could stand back up. All around the area, the different participants continued driving the undead back. As they scuffled, the fog pulled back, revealing the large castle that sat overlooking them. Dios stepped out of the parting mist and stood on a balcony, watching the graveyard and the battle taking place within.

* * *

_Present Day, Present Time_

Waking up in an unfamiliar place hadn't been uncommon for Trixie for a little while now: one tended to do that a lot when traveling. However, even as she stirred back into consciousness, something _instinctively_ seemed wrong about her current whereabouts.

That sense only grew stronger as she opened her eyes. Instead of seeing the ceiling of her hotel room, or perhaps the body of her bedmate...what she saw was a dimly lit jail cell. The walls were made up of cracked brick, while the floor itself was of uncomfortable cobblestone. Meanwhile, thick iron bars blocked the only exit out of the room, and through those iron bars, the harsh but faraway glow of a torch shone a small amount of light into the area.

"What the fuck...?" Trixie's eyes widened in a panic, and any vestige of sleep was quickly washed away from her mind.

She scrambled to her feet, dimly noting the body of Luminisa Lupei nearby, as well as an older man she was unfamiliar with. She eyed the man suspiciously, before taking a moment to crouch down next to Lumi. She started shaking her body, hoping that her roommate was still among the living. "Hey, wake up! Some freaky bondage-tier shit is happening here!"

Trixie's incessant pleading seemed to do the trick. Lightly moaning, Lumi stood and sleepily patted the girl on her head. "It's a bit too early in the morning to be getting handsy, isn't it...?" She blinked away the weariness from her face, then paused. "Hmm, no, this isn't right...I don't believe we ended last night in a cell. Or with clothes on."

"What, first time waking up in a cell? That must be nice," the man said lowly. He remained lying where he was, not making any move to stand up or even open his eyes.

"Though this is the first time I was thrown in with women; didn't think there were any places that did co-ed lockups around Florence. Either way, you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to enjoy my favorite pastime."

Spinning on the heel of her boots, Lumi's caramel eyes seemed to shimmer as she regarded the man. "That sardonic tone and laid-back approach to the unusual. It couldn't be..." The woman bent all the way forward in a manner that couldn't have been good for her spine and uttered, "Mr. Kanaka...?"

Kotaro sighed as he slowly opened his eyes. "Ugh, so much for my napping," he muttered under his breath as he glanced upward at the woman positioned over him. "Good to see you again, Luminisa, and you can just call me Kotaro. I'm not really much for formalities anymore."

"You two know each other?" Trixie questioned, glancing back and forth between Lumi and Kotaro. "Uh...hi there, I guess? I'm Trixie. I...don't suppose you know why we're in a jail cell, do you? Because...I definitely don't remember getting arrested last night. Plus...this uh, doesn't really look like a regular jail cell. It looks more like a sex dungeon."

"And on account of our captor being an apparent somnophiliac, it really might be!" Lumi quipped as she turned away from her old acquaintance. She then brushed a lock of hair behind her ear before giggling nervously (which wasn't like her at all). "Case in point, someone had to have plucked off your little pasties at some point while we were sleeping, dear Trixie. Hmm, that is a very peculiar costume you are wearing, I might add," she mused as she regarded the girl's red spaded tail which seemed to swish with every motion. "How shameless."

With a sigh, Kotaro shifted his legs so he could grab a few items. First, he slipped on his dark sunglasses before placing and lighting a cigarette between his lips. After a short drag, he exhaled a puff of smoke. "God I wish I was back asleep," he grumbled, still making no move to stand up from his bed.

"Huh…' Kay." Trixie blinked rapidly, looking down at herself as she realized her clothes had been changed. "Well, I'm freaking out about a lot of things right now, so I'll just have to worry about being molested later."

She paused, buttoning up her shirt slightly before she frowned over at Kotaro. "And you! Get off your lazy ass and actually _do something!_ If we're gonna figure out what's going on, a little _help_ would be appreciated!"

The Maestro only pulled his cigarette to the side to knock away the ashes, still not making any moves. "No, I don't think I will. If we're locked in here we may as well wait to find out what the captors want. Not gonna bother wasting the energy otherwise."

Face aghast with exaggerated horror, Lumi leaned in to pinch the petite girl's cheeks. "Trixie! Do show some proper respect for our elders. Mr. Kanaka has always been a man of contentious constitution, even back when he was the comparatively sprightly teacher of my class." Facing Kotaro again—while maintaining her hold on the lass—she bowed her witch-hatted head. "Please excuse her, sir. My friend of less than a day can be a rather naughty girl. Um, how is your back? Your lungs? Teeth? Have you been eating well?"

"Hey! Let go!" Trixie immediately protested, wrenching herself away from Lumi's grasp. She glared up at the incredibly tall girl, prepared to speak her mind further...

...When a sudden creaking noise interrupted her. Her eyes darted back over to the prison bars to see that the entrance to the cell had suddenly swung open by itself. The corridor outside of their cell could now be accessed.

"Oh, isn't that convenient. I think someone wants us to head out of here. Lucky for you," Kotaro mused as he smirked at Trixie. He finally swung his legs over and abruptly stood up. As he stretched he looked back up at Lumi. "Jeez kid, you don't have to talk to me like that anymore. I finally managed to get that stick out of my ass back from when I was teaching. Let's just get this over with and don't bother worrying over what to call me."

The towering woman mumbled something incoherent while averting her eyes, but nodded her consent. "Very well, then. There is an array of torches on the wall outside, perhaps you ought to take one...Kotaro. And Trixie, dear, if you are afraid and in need of a hand—or even a leg—to grasp hold of..."

"I _don't!_" Trixie practically shrieked, glaring up heatedly at Lumi...though considering her youthful features, it didn't come off as intimidating or as angry as she would have liked. "Whatevs. Let's just get out of this cell already. I don't want to be stuck in this...kind of place any longer than necessary."

"Well maybe if you keep complaining about it, our kidnappers will realize their mistake and let you go," Kotaro deadpanned as he plucked a torch and held it up. He lazily looked around, discovering the path headed out to the left and right of their cell. He turned back to the two women behind him and shrugged with his free hand as he gestured down the hallway. "Either of you got a preference? Or are we just going to pick one at random?"

Batting her delicate lashes, Lumi looked up toward the ceiling. "Hmm, though it sounds silly, we could always ask? Someone must be listening in on us, and at the very least, they may as well humor us. Otherwise, we just might dawdle here all day, and that wouldn't be very amusing, no?"

"You want directions now, do you?" echoed a booming, feminine voice from seemingly nowhere. "Well, in that case...continue down the path to your left. The answers you seek lie down there."

Trixie paused, staring up at the ceiling as the voice became silent afterward. "...Yeah, sure, let's just do what the ominous voice from the ceiling wants us to do. That'll end _well!_"

"I, for one," the Erotic Novelist began, placing a hand over her heart, "believe we should. The odds of our lives being forfeit before we've even been milked for whatever tragic content they so desire are acceptably low. That's how these _things_ are...Besides, we're merely being given the illusion of choice," she concluded with a soft, breathy sigh.

Kotaro took another long drag as he looked between the two. "Yeah, that sounds about right. But hey, if you do want to try and rebel, I'm sure that could be pretty amusing too," he joked as he started making his way down the hallway as the voice commanded.

Trixie glanced uncertainly between the two, but she didn't object to what they said. Instead, she trailed after Kotaro, letting him lead the way as they marched forward. All the while, her eyes nervously darted about the long corridor, straining to see her surroundings in the dim light provided by the torch.

A few quiet minutes of walking passed before the group came to a stop at a wall of thick metal bars. The cell looked gargantuan in comparison to the one they all had woken up in.

Kotaro's cigarette dropped to the floor as he looked over the cell door. As the torchlight reached into the room a large, leathery claw laid against the ground, just barely in view. It had a rough, rocky texture and black claws, each one large enough to make Luminisa look short. Kotaro immediately backpedaled as the color drained from his face.

"Holy shit!" Trixie yelped, before immediately clamping her hands over her mouth. She tensed, holding her breath in fear as she stared into the dark abyss of the gigantic cell.

"Hush now, child." Lumi tut-tutted the girl before reaching into her messenger bag and retrieving a black notebook (decorated with tacky unicorn stickers). Glittery gel pen in hand, she jotted down colorful notes. "Oh dear, might this be some sort of dragon? Now if only we had a fair, virginal maiden at hand...Well, the virginal aspect may not be so pertinent."

The stone floor rumbled momentarily as whatever creature was in the cell began to stir. A long, orange and stony tail swiped into view of the light as the ground groaned again. This time, a lot more movement could be heard.

"Shit! It looks like whatever it is, it woke up. Let's get the hell outta here!" Kotaro announced as he shook his head, trying to steel himself. Without any objections, the group turned around and started rushing back the way they came. As the team ran off a bestial roar shook the entire hallway, though fortunately, no other sounds seemed to follow after them.

Trixie rushed alongside Lumi and Kotaro, bringing up the rear as they raced down the corridor away from whatever the hell was in that cell. They flew past the cell they'd come out of and straight down the other passageway. For a good five minutes, they ran like this, continuing until their bodies couldn't take any more of such an intense pace.

As soon as they stopped to pause, Trixie doubled over, gulping in large gasps of air as she felt her heart race a million miles a minute. When she had caught her breath, she finally managed to gasp out, "What the _fuck_ was that?!"

The Erotic Novelist—who hadn't paused her writing even while running for her life—clicked her pen closed before squatting down (the way Slavs are known to). "Phew...That, dear Trixie, could only have been the culmination of a lifetime of spitting on poor Darwin's grave. 'Tis no natural beastie is all I can say for sure."

"Well, whatever it is, it seems like it's staying there for now. Bet that bitch who told us is having a good laugh now. So at least we probably don't have to worry about them not being amused," Kotaro explained as he shakily lit another cigarette.

"In other words, mission accomplished!" Lumi flashed a cheery—if slightly sardonic—smile. "Have you gathered your marbles yet, dear Trixie? I know how frightening that was, but now is the time to be brave. We ought to have pluck going for us if nothing else."

"...L-Let's just...keep going, I guess," Trixie finally replied, shaking her head as she straightened herself out. She fixed another button on her shirt, and after that, the trio made their wobbly way down the corridor. It veered off to a sharp left, and as they turned the corner...

They nearly walked straight into a cocked gun, held by a young, cowboy hat-toting woman leading another party forward.

"Ah damn!" Jackie exclaimed as she looked over the three new people in front of her before pointing the barrel down, but keeping it ready. "Forgive me, ya'll. Can't say we were too excited to hear something coming down the hallway after whatever critter that was. Hell, never heard of nuthing shake a whole building just by roarin'."

Jackie turned back and shouted over her shoulder, "It's okay everyone, we just got a couple more folks here."

"Heh, they have the survival skills of a lab rat." Takeji chuckled, running a hand through his hair as he flashed the newcomers a carefree smile. "Say, where'd they come from anyways?"

"Oh...? Excuse me, young Tarzan," Lumi craned her long neck around, trying to get a clearer look at the figure behind Takeji. "Goodness me, why if it isn't Zetico Menghini, the fellow with a fetish for food play. How do you do?"

"Yahahaha, well if it isn't the smut writer! Ain't you a sight for sore eye," the Agent laughed as he tapped next to his eye patch. His gaze shifted to the Novelist's two companions, his eyebrows raised as he focused on the Maestro. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you gotta be shitting me; Mr. Kanaka is here too? Well damn, how's it going teach?"

Kotaro stared blankly at the man as he dragged on his cigarette. "Oh, you know. Except for the dinosaur screaming at us, we're just fine. Just going out for a cup of coffee, you want anything?"

"Would you forget the damned coffee?!" a female voice cried, grabbing everyone's attention. She adjusted the headphones around her neck as she glared at them. "We don't know where the hell we are or who brought us here, and all you care about is fucking coffee? We need to focus on getting out of here!"

"Well, that isn't the way we just came, trust us," Trixie spoke up, eyeing all the newcomers. "You do _not_ want to see what we were running from."

"I don't know about that. Sounds like a fun challenge to me!" Kaiten interjected, a wolfish grin lighting up her face.

"Nevertheless, I think it would be wisest to turn around. There _was_ another path back there, perhaps it could be the key to our salvation?" Dayaveer proposed, rubbing his chin in thought. "Although if anyone _does_ want coffee, I'd be happy to make some later!"

"I think the older feller was joking, y'all," Jackie sighed as she spun her revolver before placing it back into its holster. "Anyways, the name's Jacqueline McBride, but feel free to call me Jack or Jackie," she explained to the three newcomers with a wide grin.

"Wait!" Zetico shouted, turning all eyes to him. "Make mine a hot cocoa, thank you," he finished, giving the Ace Assistant a very serious stare.

"Everyone, please settle down. The personification of Western fetishism—um, Miss McBride—has the right idea. Let's not bewilder the audience any longer. Proper introductions are in order, no?" Holding the hem of her skirt, Lumi dipped into a curtsy that was somewhat clumsy due to her height. "My name is Luminisa Lupei, and as for my talent, I suppose I am the—questionably—Professional Erotic Novelist."

With a smug smile, Lumi then placed her hands on the petite model's shoulders and pushed her forward the way an overly proud parent presents their child to strangers. "And this itty-bitty bundle of delight is Beatrix! Now, Trixie can be a shameless minx at times, but please, do be patient—and gentle—with her."

Trixie let out a small huff, glaring up briefly at Luminisa before focusing her attention back on the others. "Well, Lumi is right; I _am_ rather shameless. I am Trixie Briedis, the Star Webcam Model. Or, I think I am? I don't know if my title gets revoked if I leave before graduation."

"A shrimp like you is a camgirl? Really?" Kaiten questioned, before giving a slight shrug. "Eh, I guess there's a market for that. Anyway, I'm Kaiten Kakegoto, the Pyrrhic High Roller. Nice to meetcha."

"And I am the Shining Paladin of the Light Realm, Dayaveer Atal!" Dayaveer dramatically declared, striking a heroic pose. "But in terms of earthly titles, I am known as the Ace Assistant, though I prefer 'Ace Hero.' The lovely young maiden beside me is a classmate of mine, Kotomi. While I will happily help out any of you who need it, she is my lord and master of this realm! So it had been decreed, at least."

The maroon-haired Survivalist stepped forward, putting his hands behind his head as he yawned. "Hey there, I'm your friendly neighborhood survivalist, Takeji Kano. Sup, never heard of me, that's cool, I prefer to keep on the down-low and not suck in all the fame, it's not my style."

"Hmph, if we're going to travel together, I should introduce myself. My name is Kotomi Sanada, and I happen to be the Ace Funeral Cosmetologist. I would appreciate it if you didn't speak to me, breathe my air, and in fact, stay at least five meters away from me at all times, thank you," the raven-haired girl snapped, crossing her arms in disdain. "And yes, I expect you all to follow those rules."

Zetico smirked as he carefully walked towards her, taking fairly large steps as he happily exclaimed, "Five...Four...Three...Two...One..." He stopped fairly close to the girl roughly one meter away and lifted a cannoli up toward her. "Ahh, don't be so uptight, maybe a cannoli of doom would make you feel better? It's a blast! Yahahaha!"

"'Kay, great, we all know each other now. And since I doubt anyone else knows what's going on, because why would it be that easy, can we go down that other path the Chuuni talked about?" Trixie barked, rolling her eyes. "Because I want to get the hell out of...wherever we are."

"A feisty one, aren't you? But the kid has a point, we should turn around and go down that alternate path," Kaiten agreed, nodding her head.

"I'm nineteen," the Model interjected, her eyebrow twitching faintly. A moment later, though, a smug smile spread across her lips. "I just have a youthful appearance the way men prefer it. Don't be jealous you aren't nearly as hot as me."

"Yes, the little waif is right! Come, Mistress, we should turn around and lead the charge back!" Dayaveer declared.

"WHAT? Who the fuck told you could call me that? No, wait...I actually like it. I give you permission to address me like that for the foreseeable future!" Kotomi exclaimed a look of pride on her face.

Lumi curiously eyed the duo of Dayaveer and Kotomi. "My, oh, my, you don't suppose they're involved in S&M, do you? For the uninformed, I'm referring to sadomasochism—the interplay between pain and pleasure," she helpfully explained to the ears of all.

Zetico took a bite out of the cannoli as he gave a shrug. " Heh, yeah, they probably do. Wonder if they switch up or if—"

"Ugh, give it a rest. Let's just get out of here," Kotaro muttered as he started walking past the group and down the hall with his torch held up.

With Kotaro and Jackie leading the way, the combined party ventured forward through the darkness of the cold and somber dungeon. They walked along the twisting corridors and halls for a good ten minutes, all the while keeping an eye out for anything else that might have been hiding along the path.

Eventually, they reached a wide chamber filled with all manner of grim and gruesome torture equipment. Alarmingly, strapped to a good many of the devices were other people: though thankfully, none of them looked all that hurt or damaged upon closer inspection.

"Hiii, hello?" a blonde girl called out, her eyes widening in excitement. "Can you please help us get out of this BUZZARE situation?" Nora asked, causing the rest of her group to groan.

Roberta growled, shaking her restraints furiously. "Jesus, please get us the hell out of these things. Her puns are worse than any of the torture devices here."

A metallic clink sounded from another one of the devices and it swung open. "I told you all I could get it open; it just took me a little bit longer than I expected, that's all," Daniela mused as she slowly stood up and made her way over to the person next to her.

Zetico strolled into the room and carefully looked at the lock. "What is that it? This thing couldn't hold back a toddler. Race you to free them all!" he challenged the girl as he produced a small piece of metal and wagged it between his fingers.

Daniela rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but it was a bit hard since whoever built these things didn't put the damn lock anywhere near my hand. Shockingly."

As Daniela explained this, the device she was working on popped open, releasing the boy it held. Asan darted out of it before pulling the girl into a tight hug. "Thank you so much! I was starting to get pretty sore." He let go and looked over the group that had just walked in. He scanned them, looking for any injuries until he noticed a certain someone. He took off like a bolt of lightning and nearly tackled the Cowgirl into a hug, though the girl easily held her ground, returning the embrace. "Jackie! Are you alright?"

"Asan!" Jackie cried out in return. "I'm doing fine, hun, how about you? God, I didn't think I'd see you here..."

Meanwhile, Zetico and Daniela managed to free the others in swift order. Kalisto hopped off of the rack he'd been chained to, rubbing his wrists as he looked around. "This no forest. Where...is this?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Trixie sighed, shaking her head and her decorative tail along with it. "I guess none of you know what's going on?"

Aika dusted herself off, a forlorn expression on her face as she frowned. "Not at all. But I have a bad feeling about this. I mean...I've been in a Killing Game once already. This...This feels really familiar to me..."

"You too, huh?" Roberta scowled, folding her arms. "Has anyone else been in a Killing Game before?"

"I have..." Nora replied quietly, shivering. "In fact, I BEElieve most other people here have too, right?"

Lumi clacked her heel against the hard floor. "Not just most, bumbling little miss, but I'd wager we've all been prisoners of past Killing Games. At least, that's what I began to consider upon seeing a few familiar faces here..." Tracing the corset piercings along her inner wrist, the woman spared a quick, sorrowful glance at Trixie.

Trixie pointedly ignored the glance, giving an indifferent shrug. "I wasn't in a traditional Killing Game, but...well, you're not too far off. That seems to be something we all have in common here."

"An astute observation there, young Beatrix!" boomed the feminine voice from earlier. "Give the girl a round of applause! She's figured out the puzzle!"

Dayaveer whipped his head around in alarm, searching for the source of the voice. With a concerned glance at Kotomi, he demanded, "Show yourself, fiend! Where are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" countered the mysterious voice. "Still, the whole party has been brought together now. It's time for the game to begin! So...let's set the scene, shall we?"

At the same time, a silvery mist started to spread into the room. It split apart in different directions, taking up vague humanoid shapes. After a minute, the mists solidified and took recognizably human forms. Guards and prisoners popped into existence, filling up the room in quick order. All at once the prisoners started to cry and moan aloud, screaming as the guards used the various torture devices to interrogate them.

"Well, it's been a while since I've seen enhanced interrogation techniques like this," Zetico idly commented, watching nonchalantly as the guards carried out their duties.

"Jesus!" Trixie couldn't help but wretch at the sudden, awful sight, a cavalcade of memories rushing through her mind as she trembled. "What the fuck? What the _fuck_ is this?!"

Roberta frowned, narrowing her eyes as she observed the room thoughtfully. "There seems to be something magical afoot."

"Is that your survival instincts kicking in? Interesting." Takeji noted. "At any rate, she's correct. Something is seriously wrong here, and it's beyond our control."

For her part, Lumi cradled her arms around Trixie, smothering the model's face into the folds of her flared skirt. She cooed at the girl reassuringly despite her feeble protests. Sending a sharp look to no one in particular, Lumi remarked, "It would seem they leapt right over the boundaries of consensual BDSM, hmm? What a travesty."

"Oh? I didn't think you'd care about NPCs that much...but, perhaps they are a little lacking. A little..._mundane_ in terms of a proper fight," their captor mused, before issuing a malicious chuckle. "Let's see if we can find something more fitting...time for a random encounter!"

The brief sound of rolled dice could be heard, and the voice gave a small whistle. "Well, aren't you a lucky lot? Time to spice things up! Go forth, Beholder of Darkness!"

The far wall in the back of the chamber suddenly exploded, and from the hole floated out a terrifying monstrosity. It was spherical in shape, a giant, singular eye taking up much of its 'face'. Meanwhile, its lips spread open to reveal rows of sharp, needle-like teeth, drool already dripping from its open mouth as it stared at the group hungrily. Finally, a mass of tentacles sprouted from the top of the creature, each tentacle capped with a crimson-tinged eye.

"Heh, I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going!" Zetico cackled, even as he fished out another cannoli from his pocket. "I vote we throw the camgirl at it and run! That should distract it long enough!"

"Jesus, were you always like this?" Kotaro growled, glaring briefly at the agent before focusing his attention back on the creature. "Still, maybe we can take it. A few of you look pretty handy, and Jackie has a gun, maybe—!"

Two more walls exploded, showering the room with brick and dust. And from those new holes, two more Beholders floated on out.

"...Fuck my life. I am not nearly drunk enough for this shit."

"Kotaro has the right idea! Some of us can stay and fight while others escape at a brisk pace. Dayaveer, I nominate you to lead the charge and defend my honor!" Kotomi cried out. When he gave her an incredulous stare in response, she retorted, "Don't give me that look, I'm your mistress, aren't I?"

"Tut-tut! Now's not the time for interpersonal conflicts—rather, we'd all be better served by running our legs, not our mouths the way I am so erroneously doing as I speak!" Lumi rattled off. Lifting the barely responsive Trixie into her arms, she then bolted out of the chamber like a giraffe in motion.

At that, everyone soon followed after Lumi, running as fast as they could manage away from the Beholders. At the same time, the monsters gave chase, growling and gnashing their teeth as they chased after their prey...

* * *

The fight through the graveyard was strenuous, but not as difficult as it could have been. After carving a path through the undead, Yumei and the others finally managed to reach the castle. The gates were already wide open for them, revealing a disturbingly empty outer courtyard: unlike in the inn, there was no evidence of anyone around. No guards, no monsters, not even a hint of human activity.

Of course, as soon as they entered the courtyard, the gates to the castle swung shut behind them, locking them inside. It had certainly alarmed Yumei, and the others as well...but, they had no choice that wasn't moving forward.

They thus traversed through the courtyard, coming upon the main doors of the castle's keep. Without any prompting, the doors opened up for them, revealing the entryway inside. And, after some hesitation, they all decided to venture into the castle proper.

The entryway was an impressive sight: it was a wide, open room furnished with many fanciful and regal looking objects. Suits of medieval armor lined the walls, while a glass chandelier hung from the ceiling, its crystals sparkling brightly in the light. To the back of the room, there was a grand staircase that led up to the second story; meanwhile, to the left and right, were several branching pathways, further spiraling out into the first level of the castle grounds.

And it was through one of the passages on the left that more people stumbled out.

Yumei was on guard instantly, regarding the newcomers with a cautious eye. Though a quick study of them revealed that they all looked as uncertain and lost as she felt.

"What in tarnation? There's more of us here?" the woman at the forefront of the other group asked, an incredulous look on her face. She held a gun at her side, eyeing the rest of them uneasily. "Let me guess, y'all just woke up here too, right?"

"Aye, you'd be right in that, lass," Kaizoku confirmed with a sigh. "We all woke up in a tavern, and then had to fight our way past some zombies to get here. Mind you, we still have no idea where 'here' even is."

"Well, aren't you a lucky bunch? We had to haul ass when a bunch of eyeball monsters burst out of the wall and chased us around. Felt like we were running forever until we found a way out of that dungeon," remarked a haggard man who was puffing a cigarette like his life depended on it.

Any further conversation was cut off as the sound of someone descending the stairs echoed throughout the room. Yumei whipped her head around, her eyes narrowing as she saw a person wearing some sort of skull mask climb down the staircase.

"And so the players are assembled! Good, good. Now the time for your rehabilitation has arrived!" thundered the figure, their voice a disturbing amalgamation of feminine and masculine. "Welcome, one and all, to—!"

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the gunslinging woman and Rafael brought out their pistols and took aim. Tumultuous booms echoed from their weapons as they opened fire, laying into the mystery figure without mercy. The skull-masked figure rocked from the impact, blood spurting and splattering against the floor as dozens of new orifices were opened up along their body. Finally, a bullet pierced through his forehead, and their very, very dead captor flopped to the ground in a blood-soaked heap.

A shocked silence descended upon the room, as everyone just _stared _at the riddled corpse at the base of the staircase. For a long moment no one spoke until the silence was suddenly shattered by Amar.

"My sensors confirm that that person is _extremely _dead. I am not picking up any vital signs whatsoever," the Therapist declared.

"Wait, what the double fuck. Is that a _robot?!_" yelled an utterly diminutive girl from the other group. Not a second passed before a tower of a woman leaned forward to ruffle the girl's chartreuse-colored hair.

"Really? _That's _your biggest concern right now?" snarked the older smoking man.

Having no response, Yumei just shook her head. She eyed the body of the skull-masked figure skeptically, doubting that it could have been _that _easy. Fortunately, it seemed someone shared her concerns.

"Somehow, I have the feeling that this isn't over yet. It surely can't be that _simple, _can it?" Naoki questioned, furrowing his brow in thought.

Rafael, meanwhile, scowled at him in return. "You doubt my shooting, old man? Believe me, that bastard is _dead_. No human could possibly survive being shot that much. Not to mention I put a bullet between their eyes! Much like many who grow corrupt with power, our captor was too arrogant for their own good. And they paid a price for that arrogance."

And then, as if to underscore his words, an identical copy of their captor appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Dios, my brother! No!" the doppelganger dramatically cried before rushing down the steps. They dropped to their knees, cradling the head of their clone. "Worry not, brother! I shall avenge you!"

Without warning, the dead body melted away into a silvery mist, leaving the masked person alone on the floor. The second Dios raised their head to look up at everyone surrounding them and clamored back to their feet. They strode over to the combined group. "I trust we won't need a second demonstration? After all, the futility of your actions must now be apparent—"

And again, Dios' head violently and unceremoniously exploded in a shower of gore and blood.

Yumei slowly turned her head, her eye-widening as she observed Tina laying on the floor, the waif of a girl having readied her sniper rifle during the commotion.

"What? It couldn't hurt to try," she stated defensively.

Not missing a beat, a third Dios stomped down the stairs, stepping over the fallen body that soon also broke apart into mist. Dios stared long and hard at Tina before he resumed his address. "As I was _saying_...the futility of your actions must be clear now. I am not an easy target to take out...and if you _do _want to have a chance to even try, well, I'm afraid you're going to have to play my little game."

"Game?" Yumei immediately questioned with a narrowed eye.

However, before anyone else could talk, another gunshot rang out through the room. Most people looked to Dios, who for their part overdramatically patted themselves down, searching for a wound. Once people realized that Dios hadn't been the target, they looked around the group, only for people to notice Zetico smiling widely with his own gun pointed in the air.

"Oh, sorry everyone. All the gunfire got me pretty excited so I wanted to join in too! I know I was a little late, but I just had to shoot my shot!" he explained as he spun his gun around and dropped it back in its holster.

"You crazy kids and your shooting things. Just be sure to save some ammo for each other, okay? Anyways, where was I? Right, the game! Specifically...a Killing Game! And not just any sort of Killing Game...but a game between survivors! After all, that's what all of you...or _most _of you, anyway. Survivors of past Death Games. Be ye Blackened, an end-game survivor, or something in between...you have all lived through a Killing Game before. And now, you shall participate in one again!" Dios declared as he struck an elaborate pose.

"So welcome, one and all...to the All-Star Killing Game! With me, Dios, the Ultimate Dungeon Master, as your humble host!" they announced with a malevolent chuckle. "Welcome, one and all...to your rehabilitation."

Yumei felt her blood run cold, her heart sinking as her greatest fear was confirmed. She clutched a hand protectively to her stomach, nervously eyeing the others that surrounded her...all of them perfect strangers to her, more or less. Unknown entities with unknown agendas.

It had been much the same for her first game, but now...things were different. The stakes were higher. She wasn't just fighting for her own life...but also for the lives of her unborn children.

The greatest battle of her life had now truly begun.

* * *

**WELCOME, ONE AND ALL, TO THE ALL-STAR KILLING GAME!**

**STARRING,**

**YUMEI MAO**

"_I am a monster. Of that, there can be no doubt."_

**GEORGE WILLOUGHBY**

"_I've been told that I don't have the best bedside manner...still, you're in good hands, I can assure you. I'm at the very top of my field."_

**KOGO RUKKI**

"_No, I'm alright. This kinda stuff happens all the time, just my luck…"_

**KAIZOKU DOKURO**

"_Lass, I know people must all seem evil, but even people who have done bad things aren't without hope. Sometimes they work harder to make up for the pain they've caused." _

**AMAR MANAS**

"_My door is always open if you wish to talk. I have been programmed with an assortment of different therapeutic programs and psychological knowledge: suffice to say, I am the Advanced Therapist for a reason."_

**TAKEHIKO KIOI**

"_Fight me, you coward!"_

**FUKA TANAKA**

"_My son is alive?!"_

**TRIXIE BRIEDIS**

"_I'm nineteen and perfectly legal, ya know? And I only weigh sixty-nine pounds...I bet you could manhandle me and make me your little ragdoll, huh, big boy?"_

**LUMI LUPEI**

"_That's sweet of you, but I can handle myself. Although I admit the idea is somewhat appealing, I do not need to be rescued by some charming prince, for I am at once the princess in the tower, and the very tower itself!"_

**KOTARO KANAKA**

"_Kid, when you've been around as long as I have, you start giving less and less of a fuck about what other people think."_

**NANA**

"_Nana thinks that masky is lying! Only a big dummy would believe them! Bark!"_

**ZETICO MENGHINI**

"_We cannot speak here, for this area's safety is a ruse! A ruse I tell you! The rusiest of ruses! Don't think I didn't notice those eyes in that inconspicuous plant over there!"_

**KAITEN KAKEGOTO**

"_I'm not afraid to toss the dice and take my chances!"_

**RAFAEL VELASCO**

"_You think you can take me on?! I'd like to see you try!"_

**HAPI NEUREAL**

"_We must have faith. If we trust in the Lord, He will provide for us."_

**TAKEJI KANO**

"_Sorry, but I ain't exactly looking to make any waves here. Gotta look out for myself, at the end of the day."_

**AIKA USAMI**

"_Hmm, that's strange. Have you seen my sheep shears anywhere? They seem to have gone missing."_

**NAOKI WATANABE**

"_I have...done a great many things I regret. I freely admit that."_

**NORA KELLY**

"_Are you pollen my leg?"_

**ROBERTA WILLIAMS**

"_I have lived a long and storied life. This is but another obstacle I must endure during my quest."_

**KAGOME ITO**

"_Well, it'll be tough, but don't worry, everyone; I've run far worse crews and achieved more than this!"_

**KOTOMI SANADA**

"_Excuse me, but did I give you permission to speak to me?!"_

**KALISTO RIBEIRO**

"_You are...very strange, hooman."_

**DAYAVEER ATAL**

"_Fear not, for I am here!"_

**AURYON MERCELINA**

"_Wow, you really do pack a mean punch. Think we can do this again sometime?"_

**DANIELA GOMEZ**

"_We all should have learned this from our old games; we can't keep any secrets from each other. It only makes things worse."_

**ASAN SANGKROH**

"_This is my chance, I won't let anyone else down. I still need to prove I'm useful after all!"_

**TINA BEAUFORT**

"_I am not a doll."_

**NATALYA CHEMOVSKY**

"_Is that it? Where's the earth-shattering kaboom?"_

**JACKIE MCBRIDE**

"_Ah hell, looks like we better get runnin' y'all. I do not want to see what kinda critter is making that noise!"_

**DIOS**

"_For this next motive, I'll be upping the challenge rating. Get ready for the big guns!"_

**AND,**

**?**

"_...Wheels within wheels, this conspiracy only grows deeper and deeper. I am on the cusp of the truth, I can feel it! And yet, the answer still eludes me…"_

**FEATURING, **

**CRUEL EXECUTIONS**

**GRUESOME MURDERS**

**A DEVIOUS MASTERMIND**

**AND MUCH MORE!**

**THIS IS**

**PRISONS OF THE PAST**


	8. Revenants of the Past 1-1

A strained silence lingered in the air, as the assembled crowd eyed one another uneasily. Given what Dios had just said, though, it was perhaps unsurprising. Besides that, well...it seemed no one wanted to be the first to break this unnatural silence. Until, of course, someone did.

"So, we are being thrown into another one of these games," Takehiko grumbled, crossing his arms as he stared Dios down. "Well, it matters not. I survived once, and I shall do so again."

"Hmph, that's easy to say now. I wonder how long that bravado will hold though," Kotaro countered, taking a long drag from his cigarette.

"Yeah big guy, I'm pretty sure most of the people here have survived a game, I don't think that gives you much of an advantage," Kagome added looking up to the Karateka.

Zetico smirked as he spun a doughnut on his pointer finger. "Ah, why do you guys have to be such downers about this? Think about the opportunity before us! We can compare survival strats and see who does it best!" He threw his arms up into the air, flinging the pastry away from the group where it burst into a cloud of smoke. "Oops."

"Hm, the entire dynamics of this game will be entirely different too. I mean, we've all been through a game once already; most of us, anyway. There will be a world of difference between a game made up of, for lack of a better term, rookies, versus one made up of veterans such as ourselves," Daniela pointed out, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Indeed! That is one of the many reasons why this won't be your average killing game," Dios declared with a small chuckle. "But enough about that. For now! I think it's best I give the rules in detail. After all, we don't want this game to devolve into complete anarchy! That would derail your rehabilitation entirely."

That said, Dios snapped his fingers, and conjured up wisps of that silvery mist. They took shape into two stone tablets, each with six rules scribed across them. These were the rules for the All-Star Killing Game:

_1: Contestants are required to cohabitate at Castle Greyhawk for the remainder of their rehabilitation._

_2: Acts of violence toward the Lord of Greyhawk, Dios, are permitted. Furthermore, Dios can be considered an equal contestant alongside everyone else. _

_3: The Body Discovery Announcement will play as soon as three or more people discover a body for the first time._

_4: Only four contestants can be killed at any one time by a single culprit._

_5: When a murder is committed, a class trial will be conducted. Participation in this trial is mandatory for all surviving contestants._

_6: If the killer (herein after referred to as "the Blackened") is correctly identified during the class trial, only the blackened will be punished for their crime._

_7: If the blackened cannot be identified, or if an incorrect student is identified as the blackened, all students except the blackened will be punished for the crime._

_8: Dios will never directly participate in a murder._

_9: Destroying any property of the castle without permission is expressly prohibited. This includes surveillance cameras and monitors._

_10: You are free to investigate this castle at your own discretion. Your actions in this regard are not limited._

_11: Contestants who violate these rules will be exterminated with extreme prejudice by Dios._

_12: Dios may add additional regulations to this list at any time._

"Aye, a lot of this is looking quite familiar to what I've seen and heard for most of these games, except for that second one," Kaizoku said pointed to the stone tablet.

Dios chuckled as they took a bow. "Yes well it's like you all have been saying, you've been through this before, so I figured it would give you all a fun twist. Kill me and the game ends early. But as our trigger happy friends proved, that won't come too easily. But keep this game going and who knows, maybe I'll drop my guard just long enough to give someone the chance."

As if fate itself was unable to back down from that challenge, a knife suddenly sailed through the air and lodge directly into Dios' throat. Pink blood spurted out from the wound in huge bursts, as Dios gurgled and clutched at their windpipe. Seconds later they collapsed to the ground, raising one hand into the air dramatically, before giving one last gurgle and letting it flop down beside them.

Takeji, meanwhile, shrugged and walked right up to the corpse. With little fanfare, he yanked the knife out of Dios, cleaning the blade before holstering it again. He glanced back at the others with an amused grin, and stated, "What? I mean, he was just asking for it at that point, ya know? And it can't hurt to try."

That said, Takeji looked down at Dios again. Seeing the corpse hadn't disappeared yet, he shrugged and reached down to take off their mask.

With a snap the skull mask came free, and several of the others gathered over the survivalist, trying to get a look. While others preferred to just wait. knowing that it was only a moment before the mastermind reappeared. The boy revealed was a young adult, who could have been anywhere from teenage to even their late twenties. They has shaggy brown hair with a small patch on their chin.

Members of the group started murmuring, asking if anyone knew who this was, while many said he did feel a little familiar.

"Ruh-roh, Raggy!" Some of the group jumped while everyone turned to see yet another Dios walking towards them. "Rooks rike you'll need to set a trap to unmask this baddie, you meddling participants."

"Scooby-Doo jokes aside, looks like we're gonna need a real special trap or something to catch a varment like you," Jackie muttered taking her hand off get revolver.

"Heh, you sure will, cowpoke. But don't worry I'll make sure to give you all motives to off each other too. And just so you all know: dinner will be held in a couple hours, and you're all required to attend. But for now, you know the drill. I'm sure you'll be able to settle into your own routines from your first games quick enough," as Dios explained this they sauntered up to Yumei and threw their arm over the Monk's shoulders.

"Speaking of routines, you pick out the strange dude you'll bang right off the bat? Cuz the way I see it, the pirate over there seems like a pretty good mix of sweet and strong. That's your thing right? Maybe the arrogant kung foo guy? He is around as muscular as your last."

Yumei stiffened as Dios slung an arm around her shoulders, her face slowly turning red with rage as the mastermind spoke. At that moment, something inside of her _snapped_, and Yumei lashed out at Dios, her arm whipping out at lightning speed to nail them across the face.

The mastermind sailed through the air and crashed against first the wall, then the ground and was left slumped over, holding onto their head. Fragments of the skull mask fell around as they looked up towards the monk. "It's okay Yumei... it's not your fault... I love you," the voice of Tonbe slowly said as the being let go of their face. Dios was revealed to have a heavily burned face for a moment, before the skin started to melt off, leaving a charred skull. A few moments later the body collapsed, turning into lava as it dissipated.

Yumei stared at where Dios had been, her face slack with shock. She wasn't sure what had just happened...and couldn't even begin to comprehend it. She was only jolted out of her surprise when Fuka appeared next to her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

Dios did not reappear afterward, leaving the group alone to their own devices. And one by one they dispersed, some to explore the available areas of the castle, and others to think upon what they had just heard and witnessed.

* * *

After Dios left, Yumei wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't sure how long she stared at where the mastermind had been. Finally, Fuka managed to snap her out of her revere, and she eventually coaxed her to leave the area.**  
**

With the doctor helping her along, the duo made their way up the stairs to the second floor, and stopped by the first room they found, which just so happened to be a library. Shelves upon shelves of books filled the wide open room, a veritable wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. Yumei found herself caring little for that, however, focused as she was on her own dark thoughts.

Eventually, however, she tried to turn her mind away from what Dios had done. She focused back on Fuka, noticing the virologist had started reading a book; though her attention wasn't entirely on it, given how often her eyes darted up to look at her.

"Thank you," Yumei said, clearing her throat a little. She offered Fuka a small smile, adding, "For...comforting me, I suppose. I...well, I was out of it for a little while there."

Fuka smiled in turn and inclined her head toward her. "It's fine, Yumei. Think nothing of it. I'm just happy I could help."

Yumei nodded her head, before briefly pausing. She considered her next words carefully, eyeing the doctor over one more time. Fuka Tanaka...Tanaka certainly wasn't a unique family name in Japan, to her understanding. Still, she certainly looked a lot like him...the hair, especially. But she could be wrong…

But she had to know. Now that things had calmed down somewhat, it seemed the perfect chance to do so.

"Forgive me, but I must ask. Are you, perchance, related to an Emizel Tanaka?" she finally inquired.

Fuka's eyes widened, the virologist feeling the color drain from her face as her mind slowly processed Yumei's question. She felt her body go slack in the chair she was sitting in, and she raised a hand to her chest, heaving a deep breath as she glanced back up at Yumei. "I... yes, I am." She whispered quietly, her small frame shaking. "He's my son."

"Oh," Yumei said, her eye growing wide. She struggled to speak for a moment, her mind at a loss as to what to say next. After all, what was one supposed to say in a situation like this?

"Emizel thought you were dead," she finally blurted out, looking away uncertainly. "When I asked him about his parents, he told me that much. But I...suppose that wasn't correct. You're...really his mother? Truly?"

"Yes." Fuka croaked out, the red-eyed woman clearly emotional. "I... my husband and I left him with a relative when he was 7 so we could travel around the world to expand our fields of study. After the tragedy hit, it became our biggest regret..." she paused to compose herself, the woman's eyes becoming wet as she fought back tears. "...My husband and I, we tried to find him, honest to God. Leaving him behind was our biggest regret. We thought for sure he had..."

Fuka gasped, her eyes widening in realization. "Wait, my little Emizel... how did you get to know him? Don't tell me he was with you in a... is he ok?!" She choked out, feeling a lump in her throat.

Yumei bent over, reaching down to grasp Fuka's hands. She smiled down at her, doing her best to reassure the doctor. "He's fine. Emizel and I...well, he was with me in my first killing game. That's how I met him. But he survived. Last I heard from him, he was doing just fine."

Fuka's lips quivered, a shaky sigh of relief escaping her mouth as a few tears trickled down her cheeks. "My son is alive?! Oh, thank God!" She choked out, squeezing Yumei's hands tightly with clear relief.

Eventually, Fuka released her grip, wiping her eyes and mustering a small and shaky yet genuine smile. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you Yumei, truly. This... is a huge burden off of my chest. And I know that if he were still here, my husband would think the same. Oh, I just have to know!" The Virologist's smile widened. "What was my baby boy like? Did he seem happy? Please, tell me!" Fuka begged, and Yumei could have sworn she saw stars in her eyes.

Yumei couldn't help but giggle in response, amused by Fuka's sudden barrage of questions. Idly, she couldn't help but hope that she'd be just as excited about her own children once they were born. "Emizel is...an interesting character, I'd say. Eccentric, to say the least. From what I saw of the Hopes Peak Killing Game...he seems to take after his cousin Gundham after a fashion. And yes, he seemed quite happy the last time I spoke with him."

"Oh dear. Well, I suppose I should not be too surprised at that. He always did look up to his big cousin." Fuka chuckled, a bright smile on her face as she rested a hand on her chin. After a few seconds however, her expression turned serious. "I... may not deserve it, but... I want to see him again. I missed so much of his life, seeing him grow up. I want to make up for lost time. It has been so long since I have had something to look forward to. That's why I have to get out of here."

The Virologist then looked back at Yumei, her expression turning into a scowl as she glanced at the monk's stomach. "And even moreso you, Yumei dear. This Dios is one sick individual, to include a pregnant woman in this game. Mark my words dear, I'll help you get out of this game unscathed if it is the last thing I do!" She vowed, resting a hand on Yumei's shoulder. "You have your whole life ahead of you, and I'll make sure you don't waste it as I did mine."

"Thank you, Fuka. I deeply appreciate it," Yumei replied, a genuine smile on her face. She looked down at her belly, sighing softly as she rested her hand against it. "I can only pray that I do not have my children before we can escape. I...well, last I talked with my doctors, I am due fairly soon."

"Regardless...I think I'll make you a promise, in turn, Fuka. I will do whatever I can to make sure you escape this place alive. I know Emizel would desperately want to see you again...and that is a reunion I want to facilitate, at all costs," she declared her smile widening.

Fuka chuckled, shaking her head. "I appreciate it dear, but don't say that. Remember its not your own life that is at stake anymore, but these little ones as well." She warned, gesturing to Yumei's stomach. "But yes, let us both do our best to overcome this wretched place. Later, I do think I'll ask you about this game you and my little Emizel were in if you don't mind." She joked good naturedly.

"Yes, of course. I would be happy to," she stated. Yumei paused a moment later, however, a troubled expression flashing across her features. "Well...there are some things from my game I'd rather not talk about. But...there were some good things that happened, and Emizel was part of that. I'd be more than happy to tell you all about that."

"I understand. We all have ghosts we don't wish to talk about..." Fuka agreed quietly, looking equally troubled. However, the blue-haired woman quickly bounced back, her smile returning. "It does bring me great joy that Emizel was able to bring some good things into people's lives. Very few people in this world do anymore."

"You're right about that. People like that are in short supply these days," Yumei agreed. It was a sad fact of life post Tragedy. Regardless...well, it seemed she wasn't entirely alone in this game, now. Even if she didn't know Fuka well...she was still the mother of one of her closest friends. And if she was half the woman Emizel had built her up to be...

After a moment she decided to take a seat next to Fuka, eager to chat more with the virologist.

* * *

Kotaro wasn't quite sure what he'd find in this seemingly magical castle, but a bar hadn't been on his list of expected discoveries. Still, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth; it didn't take him long at all to go behind the bar and pour himself a drink or three. So by the time someone else came into the room to investigate, the Maestro found himself sufficiently buzzed.

"Hey there, Jackie, was it?" Kotaro greeted, waving the cowgirl a wave. "That Dios punk might be an asshole, but he has a pretty good taste far as whiskey goes. Been a while since I've found some good, quality stuff like this."

"Heh, daddy use ta say you can tell 'lotta bout somebody by the booze they keep. But I don't think it's much good for that bad hombre," Jackie said as she made her way up to the counter. "Since it looks like you didn't waste much time getting started, at least we know this stuff is 'safe' to drink. Though safety isn't really the point now is it?"

"Heh, I had no doubt in my mind that this stuff was safe to drink. After all, why bother kidnapping us if he'd do stuff like poison our food or drink?" Kotaro countered, before taking another sip of his whiskey. At this point he didn't bother with a glass, and instead drank straight from the bottle.

"If anything, we'd have more to worry about someone among us poisoning shit. Heh, I remember something like that happened in my...well, I guess my _first_ game now," he added.

"Yeah, them games bring out the worst in just bout anyone from what I've heard from most survivors."

Jackie placed her hat down on the counter as she moved around the bar and grabbed her own whiskey bottle. She poured it into a glass once she took a seat in the stool next to the Maestro. "Y'know, having something like this woulda made my game a hell of a lot better to tolerate. By they stranded my ass out in a desert. I damn near drained the hotel bar I got put up in after getting rescued."

"Ha, I definitely get what you mean. I was trapped in my school for my game. It didn't take long before I ran out of booze and smokes. Went through withdrawal pretty bad," Kotaro replied, giving a small shudder at the memory. "Definitely not something I wanna experience again anytime soon."

Before he could say anything else though, the door to the bar opened up again. This time, Natalya walked right in, looking around curiously before her gaze centered around Kotaro and Jackie. "So, there is a bar here? It really doesn't fit with the architecture and style of the castle...but that seems to be a common theme with a lot of rooms here."

"Y'know now that ya mention it, didn't y'all start off in a tavern? Guess Dios just wanted to fill this place with whatever they wanted," the cowgirl mused as she took a drink and slammed down her glass.

"Sure seems like it," Kotaro agreed.

Natalya, meanwhile, looked at their glasses with keen interest. As if sensing what she was thinking, the Maestro immediately shook his head.

"Sorry kid, but you ain't old enough to drink with us," he bluntly declared. "Besides, I don't think you'd like it very much."

"You are a might too young for this, but this is hardly a normal situation.." Jackie countered as she scratched the back of her head. She looked conflicted as she looked over the physicist. "Ah hell, usually I'd have no problem saying no, but frankly if you're here with us ya'll must've already been through a game, huh?"

"...Yes, I was," Natalya confirmed after a moment, looking away uncomfortably. "It didn't last long though, so it was not as bad as it could have been. At any rate...well, it's not like I _want_ to try alcohol. I just...have an academic curiosity over it."

Kotaro eyed the young girl for a moment, before giving a slight shrug. He reached for an empty glass, and proceeded to pour out a little for her, and offered it to the scientist.

Natalya's eyes lit up, and she eagerly took the glass. She took a small sip from it...and almost immediately spat it out, gagging as she reacted to the taste. "Bylat! This tastes awful! And you actually _enjoy_ this?!"

"Hehee, I think I said the same thing when my daddy offered me a try. I actually got a bit mad he named me after Jack Daniels cuz it tasted so rotten," Jackie said with a chuckle.

"Heh, it's an acquired taste, kid. Not something you'll like right off the bat," Kotaro chimed in.

Natalya, meanwhile, just shook her head and set her glass back on the counter. "Yet another thing I don't understand about adults. I think I'll just stick to Mountain Dew. _That_ actually tastes good!"

The cowgirl grimaced as she had started refilling her drink. "What? Good? Nah, that stuff tastes like battery acid if ya ask me."

Natalya puffed out her cheeks at that, crossing her arms as she glared over at Jackie. "You take that back! Mountain Dew is so much better than your gross alcohol. And unlike your whiskey, it doesn't come with any negative health risks!"

"Except for the diabetes, rotting your teeth, and giving you a sugar rush," Kotaro cut in, at which point Natalya glared at him next.

"Yeah sad to say but lotta stuff that tastes good always seems like it's linked some kinda thing that's bad for ya," Jackie muttered as she gave a shrug.

"So you gotta take it in moderation, nothing good comes from bingeing, right Kotaro?" the blonde asked as she shyly smiled at the man.

Kotaro's only response was to raise the bottle of whiskey to his lips and, without a pause, chug down the remainder of it. With surprising skill, he managed to swallow it all with ease, until he'd emptied the entire bottle down his gullet. That done, he chucked the bottle behind him, uncaring as it smashed and shattered against the floor.

"Hm? Sorry, I didn't catch that," he said.

Jackie just looked him over before getting up from her seat. She put her hat back in place as she approached the young scientist. "Y'know, I think for now I'm all set, don't want to be too out of it once dinner starts. Let's get back to looking around, whatcha say sprout?"

Natalya looked over at Kotaro, a mixture of disbelief and disgust on her face after watching him down the entire bottle. As such, it didn't take much for her to agree. "That sounds like a great idea. I'm sure there are more useful rooms to explore here...maybe ones with Mountain Dew instead of alcohol, too."

With that said, the two of them walked out, leaving Kotaro to his own devices.

* * *

With the rules explained and Dios departing, they were all now free to explore to their heart's content. Trixie wasn't so sure she was up for exploration at the moment, but Lumi insisted on dragging her around: hence why they were heading to the second-floor dormitories. Though as they walked a certain thought bothered her.

"You know, I'm a bit surprised you didn't insist we check out the library first," she remarked, staring up at the gigantic novelist. "Seems like that'd be more your style."

"I shall shed light on your curiosities, but first..." Lumi abruptly stopped in place and raised a finger. "Just now, you thought of me as 'gigantic,' did you not? Oh, don't be so surprised, 'tis a common occurrence. In any case, might I suggest a far prettier synonym? 'Titanic,' for instance, which calls to mind Titania—Queen of the Fairies."

The stern look on the 'titanic' woman's face quickly melted into a teasing smile. "Fufufu...Though it would also conjure up memories of that ill-fated voyage. Now then, to put it simply, I'm not as avid a reader as you may think. Indulging in literature was the pastime of my girlish days; the finest material is to be found in the waking world of reality. Besides, it's not as though there's anything to be gleaned from other authors." Lumi flipped her hair back, the gesture dripping with arrogance.

Trixie reared back in surprise somewhat at her accurate guess, though she tried to cover up her shock almost immediately. She gave a small cough, glancing over at Lumi as she spoke. The arrogance from that statement was astounding...but perhaps not all that surprising.

"Gee, tell me what you really think," Trixie snarked, rolling her eyes.

At any rate, it didn't take much longer to reach the dorms on the second floor. There was an entire wing devoted to them...and as they soon discovered, most of the rooms had nameplates next to them, usually three apiece. And she soon discovered her own room...as well as Lumi's. Mostly because it was the same room. Their nameplates were next to a door, as well as a third one, though the name itself was scratched out.

"My, my, I suppose we'll be roommates yet again, dear Trixie. It seems our captors are considerate in at least this one aspect," Lumi teased as she ruffled the girl's hair. "And before you deny it, you're here with me now—of your own free will—aren't you? Mm-hmm? Yes, you are! Such a good girl."

Trixie growled at her treatment...not really making her case any better. With her statue and high-pitched voice, she came off as a puppy trying to project strength it didn't have. "Oh _goody, _how _delightful_. Ugh, I hope this means I don't have to share a bed with you again..."

She opened up the door, revealing the room inside. To her relief, there were three beds inside, spaced evenly. Aside from that there were also a dresser, a wall-length mirror, three nightstands, and what looked to be a bathroom. It was a sparsely decorated room perhaps, but as things stood, the amenities could certainly be worse.

"Your sarcasm is acknowledged, but please, don't be so disappointed. We could always push our beds together!" Lumi stifled a giggle with her hand before shifting gears. She tapped her chin twice in contemplation. "I do wonder who the third occupant of this room is...and why is it that their name was made illegible?"

Trixie gave a slight shrug, not really caring herself. After all, it wouldn't remain a mystery for long, not if they had to share the room with someone else. "Beats me. Maybe that Dios guy did it for some reason. He seems like a bastard who would do something like that."

Quirking an eyebrow, Lumi prepared to embark on another one of her spiels. "He? Bastard? I hope I needn't remind you that they may just as easily be a 'she' and a 'bitch,' as you would put it. The exact nature of our captor remains to be seen—it is far too early to be falling prey to fallacies. Do be cautious of such errors in the future, dear Trixie...One's mind must be sharp as obsidian if they are to weather what's to come."

"Yeah yeah," Trixie dismissively replied, rolling her eyes yet again. Lumi's pretentiousness was really starting to get on her nerves...seriously, who talked like that?

Any further thought was interrupted though, as Naoki stuck his head in and softly knocked on the open door. "Hello, ladies! I see you both decided to explore the dorms as well?"

"Oh, honored elder!" Lumi chirped upon seeing the muscle-bound man. She immediately dipped her head and clasped her hands together. "Apologies are due, we've just barely begun to settle in—otherwise, I would have prepared a pot of tea. You must be so tired! Please, take a seat on one of the beds. Might I offer to rub your shoulders in lieu of proper hospitality?"

"How kind of you to offer! Well, if you don't mind," Naoki beamed, nodding his head in acceptance.

He ducked into the room and sat down on one of the beds after a moment. At that moment, the difference between his own height and Lumi's couldn't be more contrasting. With all his muscle, he looked like a giant oni of Japanese legend. And yet, Lumi _still_ somehow towered over him. It was almost ludicrous.

At any rate, Trixie eyed the old man a little skeptically. It was kinda gross that someone of his age could remain so buff, honestly. Like seriously, how was he even able to do that? For that matter, how old was he? He looked like he was in his eighties if she was being generous.

"Goodness me, such dense shoulders! Sir, you have the anatomy of an auroch, and I mean that with all politeness," Lumi mused with marvel. She had repositioned herself onto the bed, kneeling behind the man, with her long fingers effortfully working across his back. "I fear the immensity of your mass is a two-woman task. Trixie, dearest, would you be so kind as to join me in relieving Sir's tension?"

Trixie stared long and hard at Lumi...briefly wondering if the wording was intentional, before realizing that of _course_ it was. The better question though...was she _really_ going to hit on an old man?

...

Well, it wasn't like he could actually do anything at his age. Even if he'd manage to maintain his bodybuilder's physique, there was no way he also maintained his vitality. So what was the harm, really? Besides, she wasn't about to turn down a challenge!

"I'd be _delighted_ to. Besides, I'm sure I'm far better at relieving _tension_ than someone like you," Trixie boasted, before moving to join Lumi.

Naoki, meanwhile, remained blissfully oblivious to all the innuendo. "What kind, young girls you both are! Why if I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were sisters!"

The smile on Lumi's face was at once tranquil and vaguely threatening. Her grip on the man tightened, though it was hardly noticeable to his heavily-armored muscles. "Fufufu, well, I suppose it just might be possible. I never knew my father, after all...Oh, I know! If you totaled our heights and divided them out evenly, you'd end up with two girls of average stature!"

Trixie snorted at that. At the same time, she joined Lumi in kneading Naoki's shoulders...though her attempts were, of course, more amateurish, given her lack of experience. "My, you've got such big _muscles_, Naoki. And at your age too...that's impressive! I bet you could lift me up and do whatever you want with me, no problem..."

"Why thank you, dear! I've worked long and hard to stay in shape at my age...though I've had to slow down in recent years," said Naoki, oblivious as ever. "Believe me, I used to be _much_ bigger in my prime. Alas, time catches up with us all. Especially at my age! Honestly, I'm lucky to have even reached my hundred and fourth birthday. When you're that old, every day you're still kicking is a blessing!"

"You're nearly five times my age, honored elder—what a wealth of experience you must have!" Lumi tittered, doing her utmost to be ingratiating as she all but worshipped the man's body with tender caresses. "And surely you've many a _conquest_ to your name as well. Mm-hmm! Pray, do share a tale or two with me anon."

Trixie couldn't help but shoot Lumi an incredulous look. What was she, someone from 15th century England or something? Seriously, _who talked like that?!_

Naoki, meanwhile, suddenly tensed up. He gripped his knees tightly, though neither Lumi nor Trixie could see the look on his face. "...Ha, those are some stories I don't think you'd want to hear, young lady. In my youth, I did many foolish things...things I regret even to this day. I think there are far better stories I could tell you than those of an old man's folly."

The pout that Lumi wore gradually gave way to a concerned furrowing of the brows as she considered the weight behind Naoki's words. She then blinked. "Hold on a moment, are you sure we're on the same page here? You have taken note of the sexual undertones of this entire conversation, yes?"

"I-I beg your pardon?" Naoki stuttered, craning his head back toward them. He was truly at a loss, blinking rapidly as he stared at them both.

"I mean...it was pretty obvious. Lots of innuendo and wordplay there. Did you seriously not get it?" Trixie chimed in.

And with that, Lumi planted a _relatively_ chaste smooch on the bewildered man's bald head. "Fufufu! I'm of a mind to charge you for the service, though that would be stepping on the toes of my dear aunties...and Trixie too."

Naoki stared at them both for a long moment, clearly aghast at what they were saying. Trixie, meanwhile, merely glanced at Lumi, before giving a slight shrug. After all, it wasn't like she was _wrong_ about that per say.

"...You both do realize I am old enough to be your great-grandfather," he finally stated, his tone bewildered.

"And that means we can call you da—!" Trixie began, a wicked grin on her face. But she was cut off as Naoki abruptly got off of the bed and practically bolted for the door.

"I really should be checking in on Yumei, see how the poor dear is holding up. It can't be easy carrying a child at her young age. I suppose I shall see you both at dinner then!" he rushed out, before racing out of the room and out of sight.

Silently, Lumi raised—or given her stature, lowered—an open palm to Trixie and smiled with the smugness of a thousand suns for some unfathomable reason.

Trixie stared at the offered hand for a moment, before an equally smug grin flashed across her face. Without a word, she raised her own hand up and gladly gave Luminisa a high-five.

* * *

After her fruitful chat with Doctor Tanaka, Yumei bid the woman farewell, deciding to use the time before dinner to track down a certain someone. Specifically one George Willoughby, the Elite Medical Doctor.

Nothing felt wrong with her body, per say, but it still wouldn't hurt to get a medical checkup all the same: after all, she was close to her due date, and she had to make absolutely sure her babies were safe. Their safety was paramount, even above her own wellbeing.

It took a bit, but she was able to find him on the ground floor of the castle: specifically, in a room that seemed very much at odds with the medieval aesthetic of Greyhawk itself. It was, by all appearances, a modern medical office: the room was painted a sterile white, and alongside a chair for the patients to lean back on, there was an assortment of medical equipment in the room itself. The room itself was fairly expansive, big enough to contain all the equipment, and there was a door in the back, suggesting there was another layer to the medical office.

George wasn't alone when she stepped inside the room, however. It seemed he was talking with the robotic Amar, and one of the younger teens from the other group when she arrived.

"—It is my hope that we can work out a schedule for using the back office between us. I will be offering my services as a therapist for our fellow participants. Being reintroduced into this kind of situation is potentially very dangerous for them," the robot explained as he motioned to a door along the back wall of the office.

Asan nodded along as he looked between the two when he noticed Yumei had arrived. He quietly moved away and darted up to the monk.

"Oh hello there, you here for a check-up? Or for the little one, I guess? It looks like we all want a piece of George right now but I'm sure we can get you helped just fine," he rapidly explained, before ending his talk with a thumbs up.

Yumei gave Asan a bemused smile, shaking her head slightly as she considered the teen for a moment. He was just a few years younger than her, or so she figured. Yet she couldn't help but feel a decade older than him...for a variety of reasons, really.

"That shouldn't be a problem at all, Amar. I'd be more than happy to come to some sort of arrangement," George replied, before glancing over at Yumei's direction. He gave her an awkward little smile and nodded at her. "Ah, Yumei, good to see you. Here for a checkup, I presume?"

"You're both right, yes. Particularly for my babies. I'm rather close to my due date...and I'm carrying twins as well. I don't feel anything wrong with my body, but all the same, I'd like to get checked out," she confirmed.

"Heh well, I'm sure George will be able to help you out just fine! And if you don't mind I would like to be around to observe. I need to keep up my studies so I can be the best doctor I can!" Asan said with a pumped fist.

Amar quietly started at the humans around him before turning to Yumei. "I shall take my leave then as to not interrupt this checkup. I would like to offer you a session to talk if you would like Miss Mao, this kind of situation is, unfortunately, a breeding ground for stress, and that can have large ramifications on the children. So it would be best if I could be of assistance as early on as possible. In fact, I was hoping to talk with you about what happened earlier with Dios. Due to my work with the foundation, I have some familiarity with your game, so I know that—!"

"Thank you, Amar, but that won't be necessary right now," Yumei immediately interjected, holding a hand up. "That...is something I would rather not discuss right now."

He paused for a moment, before bowing his head in acknowledgement. "Very well. Than I shall see you later, Miss Mao."

Yumei stared uneasily at Amar as he left, a hint of suspicion in her eyes. Still, she knew that wasn't fair: it wasn't like he was a Kuuma, after all. Amar was a robot, yes, but he wasn't anything like the despairful bears that had tormented her in her first game. Not to mention Ayumu's companion, Hairroneko, had been a lovely automaton, especially compared to her game's mascot.

Still, she couldn't help but feel uneasy around Amar...

At any rate, she had more important things to do right now. Speaking of which, George gestured for her to take a seat in the chair, and so Yumei settled herself into it a moment later. While she adjusted herself, George started fiddling with one of the machines in the office; specifically, what looked like a device equipped to do an ultrasound.

"Asan, if you want to be my nurse so badly, why don't you go ahead and get started with Yumei?" George inquired softly. "Go ahead and do some basic checkup work with her."

Asan finished waving at the robot before giving a thumbs up to George. "You got it, doctor, nurse Sangkroh reporting for duty!" he mused as he carefully led Yumei over to the exam table. He reached into his bags and pulled out a stethoscope and disinfectant wipes.

"Sorry but this is gonna be cold," Asan explained as he placed chest piece against the monk's heart before moving it down and listened around her swollen belly as well. "Alright, all three of you have a healthy heart rate! The blood pressure test is next. But don't worry I only have to test you for it!"

Yumei watched Asan with a small smile, idly observing him as George started to set up the ultrasound machine. "You know, you remind me a lot of someone I know. You seem to be just as energetic as he did."

As she said that, she rolled up her sleeve, ready for Asan to administer the blood pressure test.

"Yeah, I've always been told I got a lot of energy to burn off. It's why I started walking all the neighborhood dogs so I could burn it off! Also so I could hang out with all the puppers!" Asan announced as he strapped the band around her upper arm. After completing the test on each of her arms, the emt gave her a nod. "Well all your vitals are looking good, you all set with the ultrasound, doc? ... Oh wait! You said I reminded you of someone, what are they like? Well except for how they're like me?"

"Well...Emizel is very eager to please and quite excitable. Suffice to say he's an eccentric guy...and one of my best friends. In fact, I think you two would get along very well," Yumei mused.

At the same time George finished setting up the ultrasound. He moved the device over, gesturing for Yumei to lift her gown. She complied, and a moment later he pressed the device against her bare stomach. On the monitor, the image of her developing twins showed up.

"There they are! Hmm...they seem to be perfectly fine and healthy, as far as I can tell," George mused as he studied the image.

"Aw, that's awesome. So do you already know the genders? Do you already have names picked out?" Asan asked as he smiled at the screen.

"Yes, I know they're both boys. As for names...well, I have a few in mind, but I haven't quite settled just yet," Yumei replied.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong here, Yumei. I would ask that you come by every few days though, so we can monitor your progress. I'd also advise trying to avoid stressful situations...such stress could induce labor earlier than we'd like. But, well, that _is_ easier said than done," George commented. "Still, worst comes to worst, we _do_ have the necessary equipment on hand to deliver your children."

"Yeah, that part shouldn't be the problem. Even with all this stuff in this room, I don't think there is much here for taking care of newborns besides like medicine and stuff like that," Asan mused as he tapped his finger against his chin.

"Well, we can only hope we don't have to worry about that. I'd rather not have to give birth to my children in a place like this," Yumei remarked with a sigh.

George nodded in understanding, and put away the ultrasound device after a moment. "Well, unless you have any more specific tests you'd like to run, I think we're about done here. You seem to be perfectly healthy Yumei, as are your twins."

"Yup yup, you're all looking in tiptop shape! So all we can do is try to prepare for whatever could happen next," the younger male added with a nod.

"Very well. Thank you both very much," Yumei said. She smiled at them both and eased herself off of the exam table. "I suppose I shall see you both later. Thanks again for your help."

She waved goodbye to them one last time and swiftly departed the doctor's office.

* * *

With not much better to do now that she was stuck here, Kaiten decided to go ahead and explore her new digs. She went ahead and looked around the ground floor first, and ended up finding a room that was clearly an entertainment room: a modern one too, which completely clashed with the medieval aesthetics of the castle.

There were two main bookcases on either side of the room filled to the brim with dvd and game cases. In the back of the room was a good-sized flat screen tv, and a few different game systems and consoles as well. A big couch was set up not far from the tv, as were a few other chairs and furniture.

Alongside that, Kaiten noticed two other people in the room: the bee girl and the survivalist. Nora and Takeji, if she remembered right. They were an interesting pair...particularly Nora. In fact, Nora reminded her a lot of someone she used to know...

"Sup!" Kaiten casually greeted as she stepped into the room. "Man, this place looks real fancy. All it needs is a pool table or something, and I could really have some fun here."

Nora turned around, a bright smile on her face. "Hiya Kaiten! What's BUZZing with you? Come to check out this sweet room?"

"Wow, that pun was awful..." Takeji groaned though he made a poor attempt to hide the ghost of a smile on his face. "This room certainly does not fit in with the rest of the place."

"Yeah, it really doesn't. But eh, I don't mind. I mean, if he really wanted to be realistic, we'd have chamber pots and shit. I checked my room real quick, and I saw an actual bathroom in there, so I guess it's good Dios ain't dedicated to realism," Kaiten quipped, offering them both a fanged smile. "So, are there any good movies or games here?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Nora cheered, pulling out a certain movie from a bin, shoving it in Kaiten's face. "That Dios really did think of everything! HE HAS THE BEE MOVIE!"

"Wow, weird choice, but ok. I mean, its no Cast Away or Apollo 13, but we all have our favorite choices," The survivalist shrugged, brushing away a strand of hair. "Maybe we should have a movie night to loosen everyone up? We could vote on what we watch."

"Huh, that's not a bad idea. We'll have to talk about that later, I guess. Maybe over dinner?" Kaiten suggested. At the same time, she couldn't help but look over at Nora with a fond smile.

"You know, you remind me a lot of someone I used to know," she said to Nora. "She was a beekeeper too. Not as much into puns, but she loved bees, and the bee movie, and all that stuff."

Takeji's eyes widened, as he awkwardly cleared his throat, glancing between the two curiously.

"R-really?" Nora stammered, clearly thrown off guard. "Where... where's she now?" she asked, a pit in her stomach as she anticipated her answer.

Kaiten sighed, her hand briefly toying with the bee pin she had on her lapel. "Hachi didn't make it out alive of our game. She died so I could escape. I won't forget her sacrifice anytime soon. Anyway, I've had plenty of time to get used to it."

She brightened up a moment later though and grinned at Nora. "But hey, that's enough about that shit. Maybe after dinner, if no one's using the room, we could watch the Bee movie together? I think that might be fun. Or we could always play poker...I got a deck of cards back in my room."

"I... yeah, that sounds great!" Nora blushed, looking away. "And if you don't mind, I'd love to hear about your friend!"

As Kaiten shot Nora a toothy smile, Takeji eyed the door, internally debating on whether he should slip out and leave the two alone.

"Sounds awesome! And sure, I wouldn't mind talking about her," Kaiten agreed. At the same time, she glanced over at Takeji, and dramatically pointed at him.

"And you! You're a survivalist and shit, right? That means you're pretty wily, yeah? I've been looking for someone to give me a good challenge lately...any chance you play poker? Or hell, I'll take uno or some shit. Long as it's a game of chance!"

Takeji returned his smirk, crossing his arms across his chest in challenge. "Alright Ms. Big Shot, I'm game. Pick your poison and I'll be happy to take you anytime, anywhere. Just don't come crying to me when you get whooped!"

Nora giggled, placing a hand across her chest. "Yes! I'll play too, though I have a feeling I'll get my BEEhind kicked!"

"Ha, sounds like a plan!" Kaiten chortled. She grinned at them both, feeling like this was the beginning of an _interesting_ relationship…

* * *

Kogo walked over to the horse stables in the outside courtyard of Castle Greyhawk, breathing a sigh of relief as she finally spotted Kaizoku. Dinner was about ready to begin, and as much as she still felt out of sorts about their current predicament...well, everybody—sans Amar at least—had to eat. So Kogo had decided to try and track down Kaizoku so they could share a meal together...

Her luck seemed to be playing against her, however, as the courtyard stables was literally the _last_ place she had checked for her childhood best friend. She'd searched all over the two main levels fruitlessly for him, only to find him now.

Well, it could always be worse. And it wasn't like finding Zoku was really that arduous of a task.

"Zoku! Dinner's almost ready!" Kogo announced, waving cheerfully at him as she walked on over. "Are you ready to eat?"

The Sailor looked out to the courtyard and returned the wave with a smirk. "Aye Kogo, I be more than ready. However, I'm having a bit of trouble with this one."

Kaizoku turned back inside the stable and sighed softly. "C'mon lass, aren't you feeling hungry by now? You can't just stay out here all night."

"No! Nana does not need to eat! She doesn't want to be around the stinky, smelly humans either! Nana wants to stay with the horseys forever and ever! Woof!" came Nana's insistent voice. At the moment she was hugging one of the horses inside, clinging to it even as it largely ignored her presence and ate some hay.

"Ah, I see. She is a bit of a free spirit, isn't she?" Kogo replied, chuckling softly. "Hey, maybe if we got you some cat ears, you think she'd listen to you?"

"Heh, at this point that would either work, or it would make her afraid of cats," Kaizoku mused as he started to run a hand through his beard.

Before he could say anything else, a gurgle rumbled from the Veterinarian's stomach. The pirate smirked as he shook his head. "Don't need to eat eyy? You don't have to worry lass, there's nothing wrong with spending time with everyone else."

Nana was silent for a long moment, her cheeks flushing red as she glared over at Kaizoku. "N-No! Nana...Nana will get the hay the horseys eat! That's what Nana will do for dinner, ribbit!"

"Well, you gotta give her some credit for sticking to her convictions," Kogo remarked, before speaking out to her. "Nana! Come on! We both know you don't wanna eat hay. Come and join us for dinner, please! We promise you'll have fun!"

Kaizoku nodded as he gestured to the horse's troughs. "Besides lass, do you really want to take all the food away from the horses? Why don't you give the beast a break and come eat with us? I know you're nervous about being around all the others, so why not be there so you can keep an eye on all of them?"

Nana narrowed her eyes in consideration, humming to herself as she mused over Kaizoku's point. Kogo, meanwhile, gasped as she remembered something.

"That old guy...Naoki, right? He has a dog, doesn't he? Maybe Nana would be interested in him?" she whispered to Zoku.

"Ah right ya are, Kogo," the Sailor said with a wink as he started to walk away from the stable. He turned back to face towards the Charm but spoke loud enough to make sure Nana could still hear him.

"Alright Kogo, let's just leave the girl to her own devices. How about I introduce you to Sadie. That good pup would love you, probably take the spot of her best friend too," he said giving a sly grin towards the indigo haired-girl.

Kogo grinned in return and nodded at her friend. "Ah, that sounds like a great idea Zoku! I'd like that a lot. Let's—!"

"Noooooo!" Nana immediately shrieked and darted out of the stable. She almost bowled Kogo right over, but the Charm managed to retain her balance. "No no no no no! Nana will be pupper's best friend, and that is final! So...Nana will eat with you smelly humans. But only because of the pupper! Chirp."

Kaizoku couldn't help but laugh once he saw that Kogo was alright. "Aye, I'm sure you will, lass. But y'know, old Sadie loves people, so maybe she can teach you a thing or two, ayy?"

"Hmmm..." Nana crossed her arms, eyeing Kaizoku intently before she gave a small scoff. "Nana will make sure Sadie only loves her, and not the stinky humans! That's what Nana will do! Meow."

"Great, then let's—!" Kogo turned and started walking forward...and felt her foot sink into something. She froze and looked down in dismay. It seemed she'd stepped straight on some horse dung that she'd somehow neither seen nor smelled until this very moment.

"..." Kogo stared down blankly at the ground, before heaving a heavy sigh. "I'm gonna...be a minute. Why don't you two go on without me?"

"Poor Kogo, some things never change," Kaizoku said, shaking his head. He walked up to the veterinarian and patted down on the girl's head. "I'm sure you will win the sweet dog's heart, but for now let's get some food in our bellies," he mused as he made his way out of the sable heading back towards the castle.

* * *

Yumei made her way to the dining room at the scheduled time, per Dios' orders. With Fuka's help, it didn't take long to arrive at the dining hall, thankfully. The room itself was rather impressive and ornate, clearly fit to entertain guests of high esteem. Everything in there, from the chairs to the silverware, looked appropriately fancy and decked out.

When they arrived, most of the others were already present, the main table itself long enough to sit all twenty-eight of them. Most curiously, however, Yumei spotted four others she hadn't seen before: two men and two women, by the look of things.

"Good tidings, Miss Mao," Dios greeted her from the head of the table, raising his glass toward her. "I'm glad you could join us for dinner."

Yumei narrowed her eye, her lips pulling back into a snarl. She clenched her fists tightly, her eye practically boring holes into Dios as she felt her anger grow. She wasn't about to forget that dirty trick Dios had pulled earlier.

"Ugh what's taking all these scrubs so long? Screw it, I'm getting started without 'em," one of the women in a dark red evening gown. She reached over and began taking generous drinks of the wine in front of her.

"Always one to make a strong first impression, aren't you Jessi?" one of the males mused as he winked toward the woman.

Yumei glanced over at the duo, before returning her gaze back to Dios. She ultimately decided to ignore him entirely and moved to take a seat, sitting between Fuka and Kogo. Not long after, the remaining stragglers came in, and everyone was soon sat for dinner.

At that, Dios tapped a spoon against their glass, getting everyone's attention. They rose dramatically to their feet and made a sweeping gesture with their free hand. "Welcome, one and all! I would like to make a toast to your rehabilitation! Eat, drink, and be merry: for tomorrow, the true challenge begins."

"Dramatic as ever, eh, Dios?" a woman in a lab coat remarked, giving them a slight wink. "Well, I don't blame you. This is a momentous occasion, after all!"

"Wait, what the fuck?" Kotomi suddenly interjected, staring over incredulously at the woman. "Doctor Kaliyanei? Is that you?"

"In the flesh!" Sophea confirmed with a small laugh. "So good to see you again, Kotomi. Same goes to Dayaveer and young Natalya. You know, I pushed for your admittance into this game: I felt you'd all fit in perfectly here. I'm quite glad Dios agreed with me!"

"Wait so you have met these strangers before? Actually come to think of it where did they come from? I ran laps around this place and did see any of them," Asan muttered as he rapidly tapped his finger against the table.

"Tch, like I would have wanted to run into any of you worthless humans anyway," the last male stranger muttered crossing his arms. His skin was a grayish-green color, and his ears were elongated and ended in a point.

Nana shot up and pointed towards the man and nods furiously. "Spooky man gets it! Hoomans are worthless!"

Kaizoku sighed as he leaned over to Kogo. "Didn't take her long to start shouting, eyy?"

"It sure didn't," Kogo agreed with a sigh. She reached over, lightly patting Yumei's hand, hoping to calm her down somewhat. She didn't blame her for being angry of course: not after what Dios had pulled. Still, it wouldn't do her any good to hold on to that anger. "But I do wonder: who are these people?"

"An astute question! I shall answer that," Dios swiftly declared. Gesturing to the four, they said, "These are other members of the castle staff. That is Sophea; she is to be the main doctor here for Castle Greyhawk, though with your own medical experts, I doubt you'll need her expertise...for now, at least. Then we have Fendil, the librarian and researcher of Greyhawk. And, in many ways, an old friend and teacher of mine. Over there is Santiago, the head Steward; he will fulfill any request you may have, within reason of course. And finally, we have the lovely Miss Jessi, the..."

Dios trailed off, and after a moment stared over awkwardly at the woman in question: clearly even they weren't sure what her role was in the castle.

Jessi herself only took a smug sip of her wine as she looked back at the mastermind. With a dry chuckle Santiago ran a hand through his slicked-back hair. "I'm pretty sure her only task here at the castle is to drink all our booze," he joked, quickly souring the woman's mood.

"Anyway as for us of the staff you can come to us for help with your day to day lives here at Greyhawk. Once certain motives begin and especially after a murder has been discovered we will not be available to you. But I don't need to tell you all how killing games work, you all are far more experienced than me," the steward said giving a slight bow.

Fendil raised up his hand and the silver mist formed around his hand and formed into a replica of Dios skull mask. "And don't get any funny ideas, all of us on the staff are capable of taking any of you humans out." After he did so, Jessica, Santiago, and Sophea each took a moment to follow suit and summon a mask before letting them disperse.

Amar stared blankly at the group for a moment as his eyes lit up. "I see, you all are made of the same 'magic' that Dios creates. Much like the multiple Dios we saw earlier, our captor seems to have quite a lot of power on their side."

"And what an _interesting_ power that is," Roberta spoke up, staring at Dios intently. "You've shown an impressive display and mastery of magic so far. It makes me curious...just who are you? With all my years of experience, I've never heard of a mage as powerful as you."

"You know, I remember when life used to be much more simple. There were no monsters, no killing games, and none of this magic bullshit either," Kotaro remarked, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "Seriously, does anyone even register how insane half of this shit is anymore?"

"I think it's more a matter that the rest of us were just not aware of all this stuff, mate," Kaizoku mused as he was making sure to add food to his plate and onto the plate in front of Nana.

Jackie scratched the back of her head while her hat was resting on the table in front of her. "I reckon that's the case, since that Fendil fella and Roberta have been talking about all this in a matter of years."

"Well the London Incident sure changed everything in this world, didn't it?" Dios explained as they looked over the table. "It turned countless people into monsters and beings from across so many different stories and mythologies. But I don't think even the people behind it knew just how powerful it could make someone. Since even a god was created by it!"

"A god, eh?" Kaiten mused. She eagerly wolfed down the food on her plate, savoring the taste of the excellently cooked steak. "That's real conceited...but then again, it seems like ya got the chops to back that up."

"Speaking of chops, this is one fine cut of meat. I haven't had a pork chop this good in ages! My compliments to the chef!" Lumi praised, cutting into her food with gusto.

"Why thank you, Luminisa. I always try my best."

And in a flash, suddenly there was someone new seated at the table. He seemed to be around Lumi's age, and was dressed in a shaggy and bedraggled chef's outfit. In fact, it looked like the man hadn't slept or shaved decently in quite some time, if the bags under his eyes and his out of control beard were any indication. But perhaps the most notable feature of the man was the fact that he only had one arm.

Lumi jumped slightly, taken aback by the stranger's sudden appearance. A moment later her eyes widened even further, and a gasp of surprise escaped her lips. "Is that...but no, it can't be..."

"I assure you, it is," the stranger firmly replied. He then glanced over at the others, and formally bowed his head. "But I suppose proper introductions are in order. Greetings, one and all. I was once the Professional Chef...though I'm not sure that title fits me anymore. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. The name's Pietro; Pietro Lombardi. Seems like I'm stuck here with the rest of you. How curious."

* * *

_Staff Character Sheets:_

Full Name: Sophea Kaliyanei

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Birthday: July 27

Nationality: Cambodian

Role: Medic

Blood Type: B-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Light brown with emerald green highlights

Hair Style/Length: Long bangs and a ponytail that reaches her shoulder blades

Eye Color: Light blue

Skin Tone: Moderately tanned

Body Type: Lithe, androgynous and underweight

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: n/a

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 120 pounds

Normal Clothing: A turquoise blouse with a low cut. A pair of white capri pants and grey flats. A large white lab coat with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows

Accessories: A blue scrunchie holding back her hair. Tan wooden bead bracelet around her right wrist

* * *

Full Name: Fendil Omah

Gender: Male

Age: 119

Birthday: July 27

Nationality: Unkown

Role: Researcher

Blood Type: B-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Silver

Hair Style/Length: Neck-length worn straight with his bangs parted to the right

Eye Color: A mix of red and purple

Skin Tone: Grey-Green

Body Type: Lithe, androgynous and underweight

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: Odd curvy 'tribal' style sleeve tattoos on his left arm

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 120 pounds

Normal Clothing: A sleeveless shirt and tight pants both made of black leather hide. Simple dark brown boots that reach mid-shin. A large and thick tan cloak that when closed obscures his whole body save for his feet. The cloak is grey and has numerous curvy, emerald-colored symbols across it

Accessories: He has a fingerless glove on his left hand and the entirety of his right arm and hand are wrapped up in black bandages. Under the cloak he has a messenger style backpack filled with books, papers, and particular spell components

* * *

Full Name: Santiago Rayas

Gender: Male

Age: 19

Birthday: July 27

Nationality: Spanish

Role: Steward

Blood Type: B-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Black

Hair Style/Length: Gelled back hair that reaches the base of his neck

Eye Color: Orange

Skin Tone: Caramel

Body Type: Lithe, androgynous and underweight

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: n/a

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 120 pounds

Normal Clothing: A well fitted 3-piece suit. Consisting of a black jacket, a cream-colored vest, and a white button-down. He has well-polished black leather shoes as well

Accessories: A silver pocket watch that has a stylized R on the cover. An emerald stud earring in the right earlobe

* * *

Full Name: Jessica Walter

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Birthday: July 27

Nationality: American

Role: Unknown

Blood Type: B-

(Appearance)

Hair Color: Dirty blonde

Hair Style/Length: Waist-length and mostly worn in a messy bun

Eye Color: Hazel

Skin Tone: Ivory

Body Type: Lithe, androgynous and underweight

Scars, Tattoos or Birthmarks: A beauty mark on her left cheek

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 120 pounds

Normal Clothing: She wears a wide variety of designer dresses, though her favorite is a maroon halter top that has a bareback, a side slit and reached her ankles. Black tights and a pair of black kitten heels

Accessories: A silver necklace with an emerald and a golden hair brooch holding her bun


	9. Revenants of the Past 1-2

"Pietro?" Kotaro was the first to speak in the silence that followed, the older man raising an eyebrow as he stared over at his student. "Shit, didn't think you'd be here too. But...you look...different."

"Indeed," Lumi agreed, narrowing her eyes slightly as she regarded the man now sitting beside her. Her voice lacked its usual panache. "The last I saw of you, you were part of the Church. Not to mention you also had a prosthetic arm. And yet...here you are. Similar, but...different from how we last met."

Pietro regarded Luminisa cooly, before allowing a small smirk to tug at his lips. "That's more true than you could possibly know, Lumi. But...yes, I am different from how you last saw me, no doubt. There is a good reason for that, however."

Pietro paused, leaning back in his chair as he carefully considered his words. "...When was the last time you saw me, Luminisa?"

"At my apartment complex. You escorted me to quite the airport," she slowly replied, cocking her head as she observed him.

"I see. Well, for me...the last time I saw you was during our Killing Game. Right before I lost my arm," Pietro softly said. "Then I woke up, in the abandoned wreckage of our school. Florence was a ghost town. I thought you were dead. I thought...everyone had died but me."

Lumi furrowed her brow in confusion, apparently not sure what to make of that. Kotaro, meanwhile, leaned forward from across the table. He fixed Pietro with a cool stare, not taking his eyes off of him for a second.

"What are you saying? That after you lost your arm, you were replaced by some...impostor, or something?" Kotaro finally inquired.

"Something like that," Pietro replied at length, giving a small shrug. "I don't know what happened any better than you do. Believe me, I've been searching for answers for some time now. All I know is that I woke up in the ruins of our academy. And when I went to Rome, to find my old friend...I found someone with my face, someone who had already taken my place. Maybe he's a clone, or a robot...or perhaps _I _am the impostor. It is difficult to say for certain, either way."

A long, lingering moment of silence fell upon the room after that. Kotaro didn't look entirely convinced, but Lumi looked quite concerned, as she studied the figure of her old friend.

Dios, however, abruptly broke that silence with their booming voice. "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is our final contestant, Pietro Lombardi! The Professional Chef. Or at least, so he seems to be. Who can say for sure?"

Lumi turned her gaze away from him, glaring over at Dios for their remarks. Pietro, however, seemed unperturbed.

"It is nice to formally meet you all. I do hope we get along," Pietro formally announced, bowing his head to the others.

"Well...can't say I didn't see this coming," Kaiten remarked, looking him up and down. "Guess the giantess and you know each other or something? Not that it's my business or anything."

"More importantly, I am curious about something," Yumei interjected, tapping her chin in thought. "Where did you come from? You were not among our own initial group, and it seems you weren't with the others, either."

"I woke up in the dungeons. However, I made my way out separately. I heard some voices while I was down there, but I was too cautious to seek them out," Pietro replied at length.

"From there, I've been hanging out in the background. Mostly stayed in the kitchens the last couple hours, getting dinner ready. Dios had someone else cooking the evening meal, but I threw them out of the kitchen and took over. It was better to let a true professional handle something so important. Plus, I don't really trust anyone else but myself preparing my own meals."

"Interesting! Well, it sure is fun seeing another familiar face here...and hey, if you ever need a _hand _in the kitchen, I'd be happy to help!" Zetico proclaimed, giving a small snicker at his own joke.

"I will keep that in mind, Zetico," he said, glancing over at the Agent. "But it should not be necessary. It was a struggle, but I have since mastered the art of one-armed cooking. Regardless, we are letting our food get cold. I suggest we enjoy ourselves now. If there are any more questions to be had, I would be more than happy to answer them later."

With that said, Pietro started digging into his own plate. And while not everyone was keen on the idea, one by one, the rest of the group resumed their own meals. Not much else was said as the group enjoyed their dinner.

* * *

After dinner was over, the group dispersed, with many heading to the dorms to retire for the night. Trixie, Lumi, and Pietro were part of one such group and thus headed in that direction as well. It wasn't anything remarkable at first, but as the others split off to head to their assigned rooms, Pietro was still with them. In fact, he only stopped when they both paused at their dorm.

"Oh, by the way, I'm your other roommate. If that weren't obvious by now. Just so you know," Pietro simply declared, before opening the door and heading inside.

Trixie, prepared to start telling him off for following them all the way to their room, was caught off guard. She stared after him, blinking rapidly as she tried to process that sentence. "...So. We're roomies with the crazy bearded chef. That doesn't sound like a recipe for disaster _at all_."

With a murmur muffled by pursed lips, Lumi placed her hands on Trixie's shoulders and lightly urged her into their room. "Now, now, it's not as though 'bearded' is an adjective to be applied negatively. And I have faith that no matter his form or authenticity—of which I am continuously evaluating—Pietro remains a fine gentleman with an appreciation for our good fellow Jesus...Yes? No?"

"God is dead, and we have killed him," Pietro absently replied, before pausing. He hummed thoughtfully to himself and stroked his beard. "Actually, that is a very good question. I...have tried to maintain my faith. These days, it is the only thing still my own that I can cling to. But I've also had bigger fish to fry than a theological crisis."

Trixie shot Lumi a look, and when Pietro wasn't looking, she swished a finger around in a circle next to her head to indicate just what she thought of her old schoolmate.

"By the way, all of our preferred clothing is in the closet over there. Well, I presume so at least. I found several different outfits of my own inside, so I assumed as much. Also the outdoor hot springs is apparently the only place to bathe around here. And no, there's no gender divide there," he added, even as he strode over to the bed on the far right side of the room. He got onto the floor, and with his sole hand he started fishing around under the bed frame, as if searching for something.

Cautious of the door frame for once, Lumi daintily ducked into their dorm and took a seat on her bed. She crossed her legs and, with a feigned swoon, cried out, "Le gasp! I see it now! The Red Man has taken ahold of poor Pietro's soul. Alas, woe is me...Fie, fie! Most beloved Trixie, as a succubus-in-training yourself, would you take him under your leathery wing so that he may at least consort with hellspawn safely?"

Trixie glared at Lumi, half torn between rejecting her offer...and half considering it. After all, beneath his beard and crazy exterior, Pietro was kind of hot. And if she could make Lumi _jealous_ by successfully hitting on him...

"Hm, I'm not so sure about him, either. Seems to me that 'god' is more like the devil in this place," Pietro glibly remarked.

After a moment he seemed to find what he was looking for and proceeded to pull out a corkscrew board from under his bed. Using it to prop himself up, he got back to his feet and placed it on top of his mattress.

The board was filled with a variety of different pictures and notes, most of them connected together through the use of colored string. Some pictures had familiar faces on them: a few were of his and Lumi's old classmates, while others were of other participants in the All-Star Killing Game.

At a glance, the board seemed to be the totality of Pietro's own investigations, both of his first game and other Death game participants. One photo was a screenshot of Yumei Mao from her first game, and under it was a sticky note that read, '_Mao; really pregnant? What is the truth behind the Dragon?' _Meanwhile, another picture was of another one-eyed participant, Zetico Menghini. The accompanying note read, '_Sole survivor of the Museum Killing Game. Why? How? Why was the footage of that game never broadcast to the public, and yet ours was?'._

"Seems like Dios was kind enough to bring along my evidence board with me," Pietro remarked.

From her position on the mattress—back flat and hat covering her eyes—Lumi sighed in a subdued, almost shuddering manner. "You've certainly changed, Pietro...and yet, you're not so dissimilar from the militant I met in Florence the other day. Rather, it's the 'you' I went to class together with who's become lost in the dark woods of Hansel and Gretel. Hmm, it's the same with Mr. Kanaka as well...Tell me, am I alone in this, Pietro? Is it my turn to walk these woods, blind and sorely in need of bread crumbs?"

Pietro stared over at Luminisa, unsure of what to say. After a moment he walked over and took a seat next to her. "...I wanted to find you, you know. Track you down, make sure you were all right. Until I saw the news reports about our game...I wasn't sure if you were even alive. And when I found out you were...when I read your book...well, I still wanted to go to you. But I didn't. I wasn't sure who I could trust. I'm still not sure. But...I also didn't want to get you involved with this. With what I was doing. You were...free. I didn't want to ruin that for you. I suppose now, though, that it doesn't matter."

The woman nearly scoffed. "You? Bebè Pietro? Talking as though you were protecting me? Hmph, forget the facade—the utter charade—of chivalry. It's just...It's just...Sorry. I'm terribly sorry my latest 'best-seller' was a waste of ink."

She bit her lip, then rolled onto her side. "Oh, what a despicable blunder. Mommy and Daddy shouldn't be fighting in front of the child. Forgive me, Beatrix...Such is the ramification of familiar faces turning strange."

"Hey, it just means I'll have a chance to make Daddy feel better later," Trixie practically purred, before giving Pietro a small wink. After a moment though she made a face and gagged. "Okay, no, that's too far even for me. I do not want to think of you as my mother. Also, are we just going to ignore the Postboard of Crazy he has there?"

Luminisa fully looked over at Pietro at that, finally noticing the board he had on his bed. She raised an eyebrow as she took it in, then stared at the chef for an explanation.

Pietro, for his part, gave an uncaring shrug. "I did a lot of investigating these past few months. Searching for clues as to the identity of the Mastermind behind the Florence games. My research happened to open up other avenues I explored, as well. It is simple as that."

Trixie wasn't buying that for a moment; or at least, she doubted that was the full story. Lumi likewise looked somewhat skeptical. Before either of them could press the issue, however, the Chef changed the subject.

"At any rate...you have nothing to apologize for, Lumi. If anything...I see it was a mistake not coming to you sooner. But the past is the past. We must think of what we'll do for the future, now," he said.

"...True. You leave me little room to argue, though that's the benefit of taking the path of least resistance—the easy way out." Suddenly sitting up like a vampire rising from its coffin, Lumi shot a winning smile at Pietro. "In other news, how has your health been, Pietro? I can assume you've been eating well on account of your talent, but nutrition is only a single measure! What of your sperm count?" She snapped her head toward the other 'lady' in the room. "Trixie, do you know how to tell if a man has a high sperm count?"

"...No?" Trixie stated after a moment, a look of pure bafflement on her face.

"If you have to chew before you can swallow!" Lumi chirped without delay, unable to stop herself from degenerating into a fit of giggles.

Trixie gave a loud groan in response and collapsed on top of her own bed. "Oh my god, that was _terrible_. It's official, you're worse than Dios."

Pietro, meanwhile, gave a hearty laugh in response. "Still the same as ever I see, Luminisa. I suppose some things never change."

When she had finally managed to stop giggling, Lumi clutched a pillow to her chest and looked over at Pietro. "You said, and I quote, 'By the way, all of our preferred clothing is in the closet over there.' Does that include sleepwear? Lingerie?"

"Yes, that it does," Pietro confirmed with a nod. "Hm, I suppose now _is _as good a time as any to prepare for bed. If nothing else, these mattresses look and feel a lot more comfortable than what I've been sleeping on lately."

Lumi smirked, sticking her tongue out to flash her silver stud at him. "Hmm, has it occurred to you just how enviable a position you are in, Pietro? To be sharing a room with two nubile women during a time of duress, in which they may seek the comfort of a man's strong arms? Even the most wanton of my works were written with more believable premises."

"Hm," Pietro grunted noncommittally, not giving a straight answer either way. Trixie, meanwhile, looked over at him with a grin of her own.

"Oh please, like he'd be interested in an old granny like you. My youthful looks and _experience_ are something he'd find far more satisfying, I'm sure!" she declared. Truthfully, she was still a bit suspicious of Pietro, but that didn't matter when it meant getting one over Lumi.

She moved to join the two of them, the two women now on either side of the chef. "I'm nineteen and perfectly legal, ya know? And I only weigh sixty-nine pounds...I bet you could manhandle me and make me your little ragdoll, huh, big boy?"

"Well, Pietro may be a 'big boy' now, but he used to be quite the lanky fellow, I'll have you know!" replied the lankiest woman to ever live in recent times. "Oh, you've been waiting to say that little line of yours for quite some time now, haven't you? Tsk, tsk. Honestly, such a naughty little devil."

"..." Pietro glanced back and forth between the duo with a blank expression, before abruptly standing up. "Well, I'll leave you ladies to change into your nightwear. I'll be doing the same in the bathroom."

That said, he strode over to the room in question and shut the door behind him.

"For a girl whose entire existence revolves around tempting men, your skills as a seductress sure seem to be lacking, no?" Lumi mused with pity in her eyes as she stared down at Trixie.

Trixie glared up at the giantess in response, huffing as she crossed her arms. Not about to back down from a challenge, she declared, "Just you wait, Lumi. I'll have that bearded weirdo wrapped around my finger soon enough...I guarantee it!"

"With enough finesse, you just might." Lumi shrugged in a lackadaisical manner. "After all, from what I've gathered during our past moments of intimacy, he is a boy with tastes that could make the Lord balk—if you get what I'm hinting at. Gosh, it's rather common amongst the religious sorts."

"...I can work with that," Trixie finally replied after a moment, giving a light shrug. Of course, whether or not Lumi was telling her the truth, or just messing with her, was another matter entirely.

* * *

The next day dawned on Castle Greyhawk, and after breakfast, a select group of individuals decided to meet together. Kotaro was a member of that group, and so he made his way over to the armory on the second floor, as had been arranged.

The armory itself was rather impressive, and actually fit the medieval looks of the castle. The walls were lined with all sorts of weaponry, from swords and halberds to spears; alongside that were suits of armor, each piece crafted with great care and detail. Also present in the room were three other individuals; the people Kotaro had come to meet.

Fuka Tanaka, Daniela Gomez, and Amar Manas. After dinner the other night, they had all gotten talking, and Amar had suggested holding a strategy meeting for the morning, to discuss how they should handle Dios and the Killing Game.

Kotaro himself wasn't as sure how fruitful such a meeting would be, but he'd come all the same.

"Yo," he greeted the trio, waving lightly. "Nana got stuck up a tree in the courtyard, _somehow_, and Kaizoku and Naoki are busy trying to get her down now. So yeah, it looks like it's just gonna be us four."

"I don't think I even want to know how that happened..." Fuka sighed; however, an amused smile soon graced her lips. "Hello, Kotaro, I trust you're doing well? We've just been making small talk while we waited, so you didn't miss anything."

Daniela nodded in agreement, giving Kotaro a wink. "That's right. I was just offering Doctor Tanaka here some dancing lessons, though to my surprise she already seems to be quite capable." She cleared her throat, looking between her three companions. "Now, since we're all here, shall we get down to business?"

"Yes, let's!" Amar agreed. "As I said the other night, I believe it would be prudent to hold some sort of strategy meeting. Most of us have gone through a Killing Game once already, so in that regard, we do have an advantage over Dios. We all survived this once before, and if we work together, I believe we can do so again."

"Heh, easier said than done, bro-bot. I know I barely survived my first game. Imagine that's the case with a lot of us. And then there's that asshole, Dios; the guy seems practically untouchable," Kotaro pointed out.

Daniela sighed, clearly bothered. "You're telling me. That bastard and those buddies they have with them have us by the balls and they know it, otherwise, they would not have included that rule about Dios himself being fair game. Doctor, do you have any crazy science stuff that could explain this?"

The Virologist shot a wary glance towards Amar, the blue-haired woman doing her best to hide her nervousness around the android. She snapped out of her stupor, however, when she noticed everyone glaring at her. "Ah, well, while I do have several workable theories, such as them being able to duplicate, that, along with my other theories, have holes, considering they were able to replicate someone else's voice perfectly."

"Wait, back up. Are you telling me that you know people who can duplicate themselves?" Daniela asked, clearly unnerved.

Fuka shook her head, frowning. "No, not personally...but I do know a serum exists for it. But we're getting off-topic now. My point is, I do believe this may be something that science cannot explain, such as the supernatural. And with some of the things I have seen over the years, I'd have no trouble believing it."

"Yes, I must concur. In the absence of other plausible evidence, I believe we have no choice but to conclude that Dios is using some supernatural method or power. They also implied that it was the London incident that granted them such powers, which does lend more credence to the theory. Many people gained strange and unusual abilities as a result of that incident," Amar stated, tapping his chin in thought.

"So that begs the question: how do we hope to stop him? Fucker seems impossible to kill. Imagine he made that rule just to taunt us," Kotaro grumbled. After a moment, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Taking a puff from it, he added, "Besides, there's an elephant in the room we ain't talking about. Group unity is gonna be hard to maintain when we got a bunch of Blackened among us."

"Yes..." Amar frowned, giving a small sigh. "Statistically speaking, it is more than likely that at least a third of our group is made up of Blackened. After all, not every Killing Game ends with a small group of survivors besting the Mastermind and escaping. I know of several where a sole Blackened made it out alive."

"Yes, well..." Fuka sighed, pushing up her glasses. "It's not like we can just go around asking people to tell us if they murdered somebody. Also, to play devil's advocate for argument's sake, chances are that some people here who were Blackened may have just been good people caught in bad situations. Humans are complicated creatures, and not everything in this world is so black and white."

"I agree," Daniela interjected. "We all know how rough these games are. They're something that no human should be subjected to."

"Indeed. And that's not to say that we don't have some psychopaths hidden in our midst," the red-eyed woman added, once again glancing at Amar.

"You sure seem to be glancing at Amar a lot. Got trust issues with robots there, Doc?" Kotaro asked, glancing over at Fuka with keen interest. Before she could reply, however, he moved on. "Yeah, that's all well and good, but it's still gonna be hard keeping people together. Buncha survivors of Killing Games, most of whom don't know each other...well. People do whatever it takes to survive when their backs are against the wall. And we've all been through this before once. Most of us, at least."

"Speaking of which..." Amar spoke up. "It does seem odd that there are a few of us who break that pattern, no? Naoki confessed that he was never in a death game, while Nana...well, I am not entirely sure what her issue is, to be frank. When the rest of us have all been through a game before, well, it seems odd to have a few who stand out from that. There must be a reason for it."

Kotaro, however, just shook his head. He took another drag from his cigarette, before bluntly stating, "And just like that, we're finished. The paranoia, the fear, the suspicion...it all ends the same way. We got no hope of corralling everyone together with that lingering in the air. And that doesn't even count whatever fucked up motives Dios will send our way. Sure, we all survived these games once before, but I think that hurts us more than anything else. We know what to expect...which makes it ten times as hard to trust each other. We've all been betrayed and lied to before. And we all did horrible things to survive our original games, which only makes us more suspicious of each other. So how can we expect to overcome that?"

"We can't," Daniela said bluntly, leaning against the wall. "We all know that the best we can hope for is keeping as many people as level-headed as possible. Blood will be spilled; it's just a matter of how much before we reach the end."

Fuka ran a hand through her hair, shoving her hands in her cloak's pockets. "That may be easier said than done. I have no doubt that the motives Dios will throw at us will be beyond sadistic and unfair. But, I... no, we have been through this type of hell before, so who knows? Maybe we'll surprise ourselves," she chuckled dryly.

"Heh, maybe. Guess you never know," Kotaro replied, giving a light shrug.

He took another puff from his cigarette, but before he could even finish it, he erupted into a sudden coughing fit. He doubled over in quick order, his body shaking as he coughed harshly into his hand. It lasted just long enough to make everyone else concerned, but he stopped before anyone approached him.

Kotaro stared at his hand, the Maestro numbly observing the pink blood that stained it, before quickly wiping it off against his shirt.

"Sorry, must have gone down the wrong pipe or something," he lied, waving off their concern.

The Virologist frowned worriedly, snatching the cigarette from Kotaro's hand and throwing it to the floor, before crushing it with her heel. "Sorry, but I'm afraid I cannot allow you to continue smoking this in good faith. It's important to stay in good health in these types of situations, right?" she told him in a low voice, narrowing her eyes knowingly at the faint traces of blood on his shirt.

"Uh, moving on…" Daniela piped up, clearly uncomfortable with the exchange. "Perhaps we can start by recruiting more trustworthy people to our little group? The more eyes the better, yeah?"

"I can vouch for Lumi. She's a hell of a girl: if she weren't so focused on writing smut, she'd make a damn fine detective. Yumei seems good too; Naoki vouched for her when we were talking earlier. He was actually part of the group that helped to rescue her and the other survivors from that train game of hers," Kotaro offered up, mildly glaring at Fuka for a moment, before focusing his attention back to Daniela.

"I can also keep an eye out for potential teammates. I've let everyone know that my door is always open, so to speak. If I find good candidates during my therapy sessions, I shall let you know immediately," Amar chimed in.

"Speaking of which, the offer is open to you all, as well. With the stress we all are under now, it would be perfectly understandable to seek someone out to talk to about it. I would be more than happy to accommodate any of you," he added, staring at the Maestro in particular. Kotaro, for his part, just ignored his stare and took a swig from the flask he had in his pocket.

"I...appreciate the offer, but I'll have to pass," Fuka added quickly. "As a doctor, I can fully vouch for my own mental state, thank you very much."

Seeing Amar's slightly dejected expression, Daniela rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Aw, don't worry! I'll take you up on that offer!"

"Thank you very much, Miss Gomez. I deeply appreciate it," Amar replied, giving her a kind smile.

Kotaro, meanwhile, just rolled his eyes and turned around to leave. "Well, sounds like that's it for now then. Doubt there's anything else worth talking about, and I'm too sober for this shit. I think there's a few bottles at the bar that can rectify that for me."

That said, he proceeded to walk out of the armory, and made a beeline straight for the bar. He paused just before the entrance though...a grim smirk working its way onto his face. "Heh, I wonder what's gonna kill me first. This game...or my body?"

* * *

Kaiten skated across the grounds of Castle Greyhawk, idly observing the large courtyard as she wheeled her way through the area. Aside from the stables and some trees, there wasn't much of interest in the actual courtyard. Just a lot of wide, open areas, though she didn't mind too much. After all, all this space made it fairly easy for her to skate.

As she traveled along, though, something caught her eye. Up ahead she spotted two others from their group sparring: Takehiko and Rafael, if she recalled right. The two were exchanging a series of blows, neither giving ground to the other as they duked it out. With Takehiko's sheer musculature and height, however, he had a definite advantage over the Revolutionary.

Still, it seemed to be a pretty even match; in the end, they only paused their bout when she interjected.

"Hey boys!" Kaiten greeted, circling around them, before rolling to a stop a few feet away. "How's it hanging?"

Takehiko glanced at her, disdain evident on his face. "Nothing to concern yourself with. I am merely sparring with Rafael. The old man was too much of a coward to fight me...so I settled for fighting him instead."

The Revolutionary took a step back, cracking his neck. "It seems this man believes himself to be some kind of ancient wise master, but I think he's got a lot to learn...like fighting dirty!" he said as he suddenly tried to sweep the Karateka's feet from under him.

Takehiko dodged the strike effortlessly, staring over at Rafael with a raised eyebrow. "There is only one way to fight; there is no such thing as an 'honorable' fight or a 'dirty' one. There is only the tactics you use to earn your victory. And I have crushed countless in my quest over the years."

"Jeez, you two sound real macho and shit," Kaiten commented, placing her hands on the back of her head. A moment later, however, she offered a fanged grin. "Pretty sure I could beat you both in a race though, with these babies on. I wouldn't last a minute in a fight, but a race...well, they call me a High-Roller for a reason!"

Takehiko snorted in response. "Well, I suppose I can admire your confidence, if nothing else. But that is a match I am not interested in. I care not for footwork, but for martial prowess. Perhaps you could beat me in a race, but I _know_ I could defeat you in battle, if it came to it."

Rafael crossed his arms as he raised an eyebrow at Takehiko. "Having such a simple view on battle is foolish. It doesn't matter how strong you are; if your enemy can outmaneuver you, you've already been put at a disadvantage. That's the first rule of guerrilla warfare."

"Sounds like you two are approaching this from two completely different worlds. Makes sense I guess, given your talents," Kaiten idly commented.

"So it seems," Takehiko replied, giving a careless shrug. "Regardless, I think that's enough for now. You're not a half bad fighter, Rafael. I could crush you with ease if it came down to it, but still, you've given me a workout. That is more than most can say."

Rafael smirked. "Thanks, you aren't half bad yourself," he said, looking at each of them. "There are certainly a lot of interesting talents around this time. Takes me back to my first so-called Killing Game. I can only hope this ends the way that one did."

"Oh? And how did that one end?" Kaiten asked, genuinely curious.

The Revolutionary pulled out his pistol, examining it as light reflected off its metal.

"With me lining up all of my captors and executing each of them with a bullet to the back of the head, live from their own broadcast feed. It helped spark the resistance in my country to fight back against the mad dogs. If you both want more details I'd be happy to tell you how I did it, but know this. It doesn't matter how much better equipped they are, all rulers can fall when the will of the people is against them. Dios is no different. I think for him I'll have him lynched, make him dance for us first before he dies. He deserves no better after putting us through this stupid game."

Kaiten raised an eyebrow, looking quite impressed as she eyed Rafael. "No shit? That sounds kind of impressive. Though that feels a lot harder to pull off here...I mean, we've already tried to kill Dios a couple times already. Hasn't really stuck so far."

That said, she glanced over at the silent martial artist. "What about you? How'd your game—!"

"The past is the past, and I do not wish to speak of it," Takehiko proclaimed, crossing his arms as he shut her down.

Rafael put his gun back in his holster, eyeing the High Roller. "The same could be asked of you, Señorita. How did your game end? With you running someone over with your roller skates?" He asked half-jokingly.

"What can I say? A lot of people died, and I barely made it out alive. It was definitely the hardest challenge of my life, for sure. Heh, if it weren't for a good friend of mine...well, I'm not sure I would have made it out at all," Kaiten replied, a small smile briefly flashing across her lips. "Think it's the same story with a lot of us here. Not everyone can be so lucky to turn the tables on the mastermind and throw them to the dogs."

"I only succeeded because I had the rest of the participants work with me. If they had decided to continue fighting amongst themselves then chances are we would have never been able to do that. The only way that we will be able to get through this game is with strong leadership and I promise you that jackal with the Future Foundation is not the one to do so," Rafael said defiantly.

"Heh, sounds like you got a real hate-boner for those guys. What'd they ever do to you?" Kaiten couldn't help but ask.

Before he could answer, however, Takehiko interjected. "It sounds to me like your Mastermind was weak. If they could be taken down so easily, then they clearly were not on the same level as, say, Dios. I also see that winning against such a pathetic opponent has made you overconfident. Unfortunately for you, that shall just make you all the easier to defeat."

Takehiko then turned around and stalked off, clearly done with the conversation. Kaiten watched him leave with a bemused smile, remarking,

"Jeez, what crawled up his ass and died? Sure sounds like the pot calling the kettle black, here..."

The Revolutionary glanced back at the man as he walked off, before turning to the girl. "He is an arrogant fool, but hopefully we can convince him to see reason. I would have loved to have called that man a comrade during my travels. His strength is truly impressive."

"It sure is," Kaiten agreed, allowing herself another smirk. "Makes me wonder what he's truly capable of. Guess we'll find out soon enough, huh?"

* * *

As noon came and went, Kogo was feeling particularly peckish. With that in mind, she decided to pay a visit to the second floor kitchen and make herself a snack.

It didn't take long to get there, though she saw she wasn't alone. Inside the modern, well-furnished kitchen was a familiar face: Kagome Ito, her old classmate from Mochizuki Academy.

"Kagome!" Kogo greeted her, waving at the Fast Food Manager as she approached her. "I guess you had the same idea as me, huh?"

"Oh? I doubt it's the exact same idea," the manager said with a smile. "I suppose I just feel more at home in the kitchen. So I guess I wanted to come to a place where I still feel like I could have control."

"I get that. It helps to take comfort in stuff like that when you can," Kogo replied, giving a small sigh. Hoping to ease the tension a little, she pressed on. "So, I didn't hear much from you after we both graduated. Last I heard you were running a McDonalds in Osaka, right?"

Kagome awkwardly rubbed her neck as she nodded. "Yeah, I have been. Not really what most people would expect from a talent school graduate, huh? Well maybe not most people, but I'm sure Hope's Peak thinks it's better than I could achieve. How about you, living a _charmed_ life?" she joked while giving a wink.

Kogo gave a small groan, though a smile spread across her lips all the same. "Still the same as ever, huh, Kagome? But yeah...I've been doing all right, I suppose. I've actually been doing a lot of traveling lately, collecting a lot of stories from a lot of interesting people. I was planning on maybe making that into a book...but, well, I guess that's on hold for now."

She gave a small sigh, before pushing another smile onto her face. "Still, it's been pretty good. A lot of people are willing to open up to me when they hear what school I'm from. I guess since Hope's Peak crashed and burned, Mochizuki Academy's become the premier talent school for Japan. In fact, I heard they actually changed their motto to, '_The school that _didn't _kickstart the Tragedy.'_ I thought it was a joke until I actually looked it up."

Kagome giggled as she continued to take stock of the kitchen. "That doesn't surprise me for a second, the headmaster was always desperate to get the academy out of HP's shadow. Never the most tactful...Anyway, I'm glad your game didn't change you for the worse."

"Thanks! Though it probably doesn't hurt that I don't remember...much, if anything, from my first game. Uh, that's a bit of a long story. But, I'm glad I can say the same about you too!" Kogo cheerfully replied. "And it's also good to see a familiar face here. It's been great catching up with Zoku...we really ought to do the same, too. It's been far too long since we last talked!"

"Mmh, I've been trying to stay away from focusing on my past..." the manager had started to say before she quickly shook her head. "I mean, since I got out of my game...Talking about school and stuff would be a nice change of pace."

A moment later, the door to the kitchen opened, and, Hapi Neureal came inside. The archangel adopted a nervous expression on his face as he caught sight of Kogo and Kagome. "Oh, hello..." he hesitantly greeted, shuffling his feet as Azzur appeared on his shoulder. "Pardon me for interrupting, I'm just here to get some food for Azzur," he explained, frowning as he began rummaging through some drawers. "Ah, I hope that God is blessing you two with a good evening?"

"Thank you, Hapi. We're doing fine, thanks," Kogo politely replied. Her eyes couldn't resist lingering on the archangel; or rather, the cat sitting on his shoulder. A genuine grin appeared on her face, as she couldn't help but comment, "I hope you don't mind me saying so, but Azzur is so cute! He's an adorable little kitty. How long have you had him?"

Upon hearing the conversation shift to Azzur, Hapi's face noticeably brightened and he turned to face Kogo. "Since I was seven! I saved him and his siblings and eventually adopted them!" The archangel looked over at Kagome, and he slightly deflated when he noted that she was giving him an odd look. He quickly recovered, sheepishly petting Azzur as he addressed Kogo again. "Would you like to pet him? He's really friendly!" As if to confirm his point, the cat gave a strange yet friendly, bark-like cry.

Kagome blinked as she noticed the face she was making and quickly turned it back into a neutral expression. "Uhh, sorry about that. I guess I'm just used to my training, and seeing an animal in the kitchen feels odd. But please, don't let me ruin your mood," she awkwardly explained and looked away from the archangel.

Kogo glanced over at Kagome for a moment, tilting her head slightly, before deciding to dismiss the incident. It made enough sense, she supposed. Besides, she had more important matters to contend with. Like petting that cat!

"Of course!" she beamed. The girl reached over, softly patting Azzur's small head as the cat leaned into her touch. "You've had him for that long, huh? I'm kind of jealous. The last time my family got a cat, it ran away after a week. Though that was probably my fault..."

"Aw, don't feel too bad!" Hapi giggled, shaking his head. "Animals have wills and emotions of their own, just like humans. It's not your fault, it could have left for a variety of reasons."

Suddenly, Azzur jumped off of the archangel's shoulder, landing onto Kogo and rubbing his head against hers with a soft purr.

"Oh, it seems Azzur likes you. That's a good sign, it means I can trust you!" he declared boldly. "Everyone knows animals have great instincts when it comes to these sorts of things."

"Makes sense, Kogo always had a habit of getting on everyone's good side. Especially when her luck would act up against her; it usually made us feel bad since it was like she was being bullied by fate," Kagome explained with a sigh.

After a moment, she sharply bowed her head towards Kogo. "I'm sorry, that was rude! Please, you came in for some food, right Kogo? Allow me to make you something to make up for that."

"Hey, don't worry about it. But...if you really do wanna cook for me...well, I won't say no!" Kogo declared, clasping her hands together. "Do you want anything yourself, Hapi? Or are you just looking for food for Azzur?"

"Well... I was here for Azzur, but..." the orange-eyed boy hesitated, glancing at Kagome nervously. "I don't want to get in the way and butt in on your lunch with Kagome. But if it's not a bother, then..." he trailed off.

"Hmm, no, it's not a problem with me. It's a shame I don't have my usual crew, and that odd chef guy seems to have wandered off too. But don't worry, I can run any of the equipment here just fine! So, can I take your order?" Kagome asked with a confident grin.


	10. Revenants of the Past 1-3

It was late in the afternoon now, and Trixie was hoping to find some way to relax from all the stress of the last twenty-four hours. Not to mention she did need to bathe sooner or later...so why not check out the outdoor hot springs? That had been her main justification, at least.

So the model made her way through the ground floor, before coming across a small unisex changing room. It didn't take her long at all to disrobe, and though there were plenty of towels available, she decided to forgo one. After that, she strode through the changing room and into the hot springs proper.

As the name suggested, it was an outdoor spring, specifically the Japanese kind. Steam rose into the air at regular intervals, while rocks and similar obstacles surrounded the ring of the springs. The water itself was a clear blue, and when Trixie tested the temperature, it seemed to be just right: the perfect mix between hot and _too_ hot.

With that, she slowly eased herself into the water, sighing in relief as the hot liquid soothed her body. At the same time, she finally took notice of two others in the springs, previously hidden by a section of rock. Aika Usami and Tina Beaufort, if she recalled correctly. Like her, Tina had a similarly under-developed body, though she was also a few years younger. Aika, meanwhile, was the youngest of them all at fifteen, and yet she was also somehow the tallest of the trio.

"Hey there," Trixie greeted after a moment, eyeing them both curiously.

"Hiya there!" Aika greeted back, sporting a smile and waving to the model enthusiastically. "Come join us! Tina was just regaling me with some of her super duper cool stories!"

Trixie raised an eyebrow at that, and for her part, Tina just gave a silent shrug. After a moment the Model shrugged herself, and swam closer to the other girls.

"Guess we all had the same idea, huh?" Trixie began, resting her back against a smooth rock cropping. "Gotta say, this feels pretty comfortable. Never been to a hot springs before, but I can see why people like it."

Tina nodded mechanically. After a moment though, she spoke up, addressing the elephant in the room. "Why are you naked?"

It was a valid question, considering both Tina and Aika were wearing towels. Not to mention this seemed to be a unisex hot spring, meaning any of the guys could walk in at any moment. Trixie, however, wasn't all that concerned.

"I have nothing to hide. Besides, there are plenty of guys who'd love to look at my body," she boasted, puffing up her chest somewhat. "I'm just giving the people what they want."

"Wow, I wish I had that self-confidence..." Aika sighed, kicking her feet back and forth idly. "I don't know how you're able to do what you do on a daily basis. I'm sure many people don't approve of what you do and call you names, no?"

Trixie eyed Aika for a moment, studying her, before giving a careless shrug. "Sure, all the time. But I don't care what the haters say or think. I have my fans, and a lot of them are more than happy to donate to me; that's been more than enough really. Besides, it's not as if...ah, not as if I've hurt anyone doing this or anything. It's all perfectly legal fun, so really, what's the harm?"

The Shepherdess blinked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. "Wait, you're legal?"

After a small pause, she couldn't hold back her giggle as she waved her hand. "Sorry, I was just joking. But, yeah, I guess I kinda get that. You see a market in demand and capitalize on it. No harm, no foul! Man, I can't believe that I have the most boring talent here. You two live lives of excitement. Nothing great about sheep herding, sadly." She yawned, slumping back and closing her eyes. "Though, I guess I should be careful what I wish for since I'm here now."

"My hands are stained with the blood of dozens of men and women. I have killed countless at the orders of my handlers," Tina abruptly stated, startling both Trixie and Aika. After an awkward pause, she added, "An exciting talent does not equal a good life."

"...Riiiight," Trixie slowly said. She scooted further away from Tina, moving closer to the Shepherdess in the process.

"And hey, your talent doesn't sound so bad. I mean, lambs are cute, right? Must be fun hanging out with baby sheep all the time," Trixie offered up, though it was an admittedly weak attempt to reassure her. "Besides, being a webcam model isn't all it's cracked up to be. It took years of hard work and dedication to build up my loyal following. I didn't even start out as a camgirl until I turned eighteen; before then I was just a regular streamer."

"I see..." Aika mused thoughtfully. "And, I suppose so, but sheep and lambs are exhausting. You know how people often compare idiots to 'lost sheep'? Yeah, that comparison isn't dramatic. Sheep are literally the stupidest animals on the planet. It can get exhausting shepherding them around all day, with little appreciation and pay. That's kinda why I admire what you do, sorta. Hmm, if anything I'd just like the self-confidence to do bold stuff. Like walking around in the nude!" she teased.

Trixie smiled at that, preening somewhat at Aika's words. "Well, if you really want, I could always show you how. Er, well...maybe when you turn eighteen, at least. I don't wanna get caught up in anything illegal. But...far as being confident in general...well, you just gotta learn how to trust yourself. Trust your own judgment and intuition, and it won't lead you astray!"

The Shepherdess stifled a giggle, raising a hand to her mouth. "Wow, that sounds a lot like an inspirational quote on a fortune cookie!" she joked. "But... that's not the worst idea. After escaping my last Killing Game, I became more confident in myself, and it made my life sooo much better when I returned home! I'll still hold you to that promise, Trixie. I feel there's a lot I can learn from you!"

Trixie raised an eyebrow at that, giving Aika a considering look. But she shrugged carelessly a moment later, a pleased smile on her face. "Well, you're not wrong about that, Aika. There's definitely a lot I can teach you; you too, Tina."

"I somehow doubt that," Tina curtly replied, her face passive and expressionless.

Trixie felt her eyebrow twitch in faint annoyance, but she let that slide for now. Instead, she moved on, saying, "You know, I gotta say, this is pretty comfortable. I've never been to a hot spring before, but this is pretty damn good. I don't even care if Dios is broadcasting this shit right now; it's worth it if it means getting a relaxing bath like this every day."

Aika frowned worriedly, glancing around as if looking for cameras. "It does make me nervous that this is being broadcast. My first game wasn't, so having the whole world watch us makes me uncomfortable..." she admitted.

"...You get used to it," Trixie replied, frowning a little as she remembered her own game. She shook her head after a moment though, dismissing the memories. "Besides, it's par for the course for this shit. Not much we can do about it. So let's just sit back and relax while we can."

And so they did; for a good while the trio fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying the warmth of the springs.

* * *

After her impromptu lunch with Kagome and Hapi, Kogo soon left the kitchen to explore elsewhere. She hadn't taken a real thorough look at the entertainment room on the first floor, so she decided to go look at it again. When she walked into the room, however, she found that she wasn't alone. Kotomi and Dayaveer were already inside. Kotomi herself was settled on the couch, her body posed in a dignified manner, while Dayaveer was bent over next to her.

"Your royal milk tea, as requested, my Queen!" Dayaveer proclaimed, before offering her a small cup of the piping hot tea. "I hope it is to your liking."

He straightened himself out, looking back slightly as he noticed the Charm. "Ah, Kogo! It is good to see you. Have you also come to partake of this room's entertainment media?"

"Oh yeah, hadn't really seen much of this place, so why not?" Kogo mused as she walked up to the pair. "So what are you two doing, anything fun?"

"We are just chatting over tea, dear, nothing too enthralling. Normally, I'd ask for you to leave. Those who aren't worthy of my presence aren't even allowed to be within fifty feet of me. But you? You may join us...I'm not sure why, but there's something about you that I find...intriguing." the Ace Funeral Cosmetologist said, taking a sip from her tea. She swished the liquid around her mouth for a moment before looking at Dayaveer. "It has a bit too much milk; perhaps a little less will do, but it is delicious nonetheless. Thank you, dear."

"You are quite welcome!" Dayaveer beamed, smiling brightly at Kotomi. "I am more than happy to please."

Turning to face Kogo, he offered her another smile. "Is there anything you desire, Kogo? Some tea for yourself perhaps, or another beverage? Whatever it is, I shall do my utmost best to achieve it!"

As the Charm took a seat next to the other girl, she shook her head and gave the Assistant a smile. "You don't have to do anything like that for me."

"Well, if you're certain..." Dayaveer replied, sounding somewhat unsure. Still, he joined the two a moment later and picked up the remote to the TV. "I've yet to see if this thing has cable or not. Shall we check it out?"

When neither of them objected, Dayaveer pressed the remote and turned on the screen. Immediately, the opening credits to a sitcom started playing. It seemed fairly normal, with one key difference...

All the characters were played by Dios.

"_Dios? Did you remember to study for your test?" _asked the mother Dios, dressed in an apron as she cooked in the kitchen. If not for the mask she was wearing, she looked rather normal and mundane.

"_Of course, Mother!"_ the diminutive child Dios answered from the living room. With his small size and cute sailor's outfit, he almost seemed like an innocent child. But, again, the mask ruined that effect.

"_Now son, don't lie to your mother! That's what you told us last time, and you failed that test!"_ scolded the father Dios. Dressed in a fuzzy bathrobe and reading a newspaper on his favorite chair, he seemed to be the perfect picture of a sitcom father. But again, that creepy mask took away from the presentation.

"..." Dayaveer regarded the show in silence, unable to look away. "I do not know what I was expecting, but it was not this."

"Shut this horrid program off! It is an insult to myself and anyone with a functioning brain!" Kotomi snapped. She glared at the boy, noticing the look of captivation on his face. "How can you even find this fascinating? I'd rather watch a documentary on the drying of paint!"

"I think it might be one of those things where it's so bad you can't help but see just how bad it's going to get," Kogo explained, still looking at the screen with a bemused expression.

Dayaveer suddenly shook his head, managing to come back to his senses. "It is as Kogo says. But, if you'd prefer to change the channel..."

Dayaveer raised the remote and pressed a button. The channel changed from a sitcom...to what was clearly a documentary about paint drying on a wall, as narrated by Morgan Freeman.

"Does this satisfy you, my Queen?" Dayaveer couldn't help but ask, giving a small snicker.

"Well, can't say Dios isn't attentive to us..." Kogo sighed as she couldn't help glancing around the room, looking for any signs of being monitored. "It's pretty creepy, all things considered."

"I can't believe it... a documentary like that actually exists... you know what? I don't care, I'll just continue drinking my tea," the ravenette said, focusing on her drink. It was, however, hard not to look at the screen, especially when Morgan Freeman's soothing voice was coming out of the speakers.

"Yes...it is a little disconcerting. But, I suppose it comes with the territory. I've yet to see any evidence of cameras...but that does not mean they don't exist," Dayaveer stated, glancing around himself.

The documentary played on by itself for a good few minutes, the most interesting thing about it being Morgan Freeman's narration. But quite abruptly, the channel changed to a blank screen.

"...I didn't touch the remote..." Dayaveer stated, staring at the screen warily.

Then, just as abruptly, an image appeared on the screen. It was a picture of a corpse with a twisted neck, laying at the bottom of a stairwell.

Kotomi let out a scream, dropping her teacup to the ground. It shattered, spilling what remained of her drink on the once clean floor. She clutched her chest tightly with her hand, gritting her teeth in anger.

"Kotomi! Are you okay?" Kogo asked as she moved closer to the girl. She had started to reach out to her before stopping herself.

"What kind of sick joke is this? Dayaveer please shut that damned thing off, we are clearly not going to get a good quality program while being stuck in this shithole!" Kotomi screeched, a fierce scowl stretching across her lips. She gave a short sigh a moment later though, and addressed Kogo. "I-I'm fine dear... I just wasn't expecting to see him again... let us not talk about this to anyone, all right? I think I've seen enough television for one day. There are things I would rather not be reminded of,"

She sighed again, staring at the broken teacup. "What a waste."

Dayaveer quickly shut off the TV before reaching over to comfortingly pat Kotomi's back. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Kotomi. If you'd like, I could make you a new—!"

Before he could finish that sentence, however, the screen suddenly blared back to life. This time it showed a woman tied to a bed, her body bloodied from many wounds, including two prominent stab marks in her stomach and chest.

Dayaveer froze, his eyes widening as he stared at the screen in horror. "'Kay..."

Not wasting any time, Kogo reached for the remote, only to trip just as she picked it up. As she collided with the ground the control bounced away, changing the channel again. This time, the image of a room covered in spilled blood took over. Two people were lying on the floor, one a tall boy with a collection of portable video games scattered around him, and the other was a beautiful girl in a ruined ballroom gown. Both had their necks slashed open.

"Dayaveer, Kotomi, are you guys all right...?" the Charm muttered as she stood up before looking at the screen. Her eyes widened as they looked over the bloodbath being shown.

A second later, Dayaveer gave a snarl and marched over to the TV. He reached behind it, yanking out the power cord and shutting off the screen for good.

"Aside from the grotesque imaging on that television, yes, I am fine. I'm more worried about you, are you faring well? You just had a nasty fall," the young woman said in response, having stood up from her seat. She examined the Charm over, making sure she wasn't too badly injured. "You seem all right, but do be careful in the future, okay?"

His task done, Dayaveer gave a relieved sigh and strode back over to the girls. Then, without needing to be prompted, he reached down and helped Kogo back to her feet. "Well, that should be the last of that. Still...it figures Dios would try to torment us with images from our own games..."

"Thanks, but you don't have to worry. Sadly, that's pretty mild compared to some falls I've had," Kogo muttered as she straightened her jacket and skirt out. "I'm sorry you guys had to see all that stuff again. Your game must have been pretty rough, all three of those were sickening."

"I-Indeed...m-my hand was forced...That's all I'll say about that. I was hoping I could forget that, but of course, our captors aren't keen on allowing us to anytime soon," the raven-haired woman said, sighing. "I don't even want to imagine what led to these deaths. I...I'm sorry, we shouldn't be forced to keep seeing these horrid images."

"Indeed. It only proves how sick and twisted this Dios is..." Dayaveer growled. He blinked a second later, though, and gave Kogo an odd look. "Wait, what do you mean? That last image was from your game, wasn't it? One was mine, another was obviously Kotomi's...I had assumed the last happened in your Killing Game."

"Oh, well... It could be from mine if it wasn't either of yours. But I don't remember what happened in my game, so I wouldn't really know," Kogo admitted as she sighed.

"It hardly matters now. Whether it happened in your game or in someone else's, the fact of the matter is it happened. Though I wish to forget, it is likely we won't. Let's just try to go on with our day as normal. It would be prudent to keep this to ourselves, at least for now. I'm loathed to admit it, but as a former Blackened, my life could be in danger here. I trust the two of you, so consider yourselves lucky!" Kotomi said firmly.

"Worry not, my Queen! Your secret is safe with me," Dayaveer declared before giving a grandiose bow.

Kogo, meanwhile, started fretting with the end of her braid as she smiled toward the Cosmetologist. "I'm glad you trust me enough already to tell me, Kotomi. Though I don't know why Dios is bothering to show me mine, it was just odd when I met my game's survivors. They were so happy to see me and said they missed me after I died, but I felt bad since they were like strangers to me."

The Assistant quirked an eyebrow at Kogo's words. He looked genuinely puzzled, before a look of understanding dawned on his face. "Ah, I see! I take it your game was hosted in some sort of virtual reality or something along those lines?"

"Yes, it was, sorry for not being clear. I woke up first out of everyone who didn't make it," she said, giving a nod.

"It's quite alright, dear. It is an easy detail to forget, though I find this quite intriguing. I wasn't aware there were Killing Games in virtual reality scapes. I suppose after seeing one in space and another in a desolate desert, this shouldn't exactly surprise me."

"Indeed. The lengths Ultimate Despair goes to knows no bounds," Dayaveer sagely declared. "Regardless, let us speak of more pleasant matters, no?"

At that moment, the doors to the room parted and Naoki poked his head in. "Pardon me for interrupting, but Kaizoku and I need some assistance. We're having trouble getting Nana out of that tree..."

"Wait, she's _still_ up there?" Dayaveer incredulously inquired, to which the old man nodded.

"Somehow that makes a little too much sense. All right, let's see what we can do about getting that silly girl down before someone gets hurt," Kogo said as she approached the Archer.

"I concur; the last thing we need is someone cracking their head open falling out of a tree," Kotomi said, shaking her head. "Honestly, the people of this world never cease to amaze me."

"Indeed! I shall volunteer as well. With our might combined, we shall rescue that fair maiden!" Dayaveer thundered with a booming laugh.

Gathering themselves, the trio soon departed to go with Naoki.

* * *

It was later in the day now, and Yumei...well, she felt more than a little agitated and cooped up. She could only walk the castle grounds so many times, and she had already explored what was publicly available in the castle itself. Meditation helped, but it had only gotten her so far.

What she needed...was a challenge. A good old-fashioned spar.

Of course, finding a sparring partner was a bit of a tall order. Naoki was a possibility, but he and Kaizoku were still busy getting Nana out of that tree; so that was out. Takehiko was too unpleasant to consider for such a role; so that left her with her next best option...

And Yumei just so happened to find that option in the armory of the castle. Auryon Mercelina was inside, apparently getting some exercise in as she did push-ups on the floor.

"You look like you're about as stir-crazy as I feel," Yumei remarked as she walked in, observing Auryon with keen interest.

The Ultimate Slayer grunted, shooting to her feet as she regarded Yumei with a wry grin. "Something like that. Honestly, I was never known for my patience, and I can tell that you're the same." Auryon exhaled, swinging her arms to loosen them up. "You're welcome to join me if you'd like, Yumei. I admit I want to see what you can do."

"Likewise, Auryon. You seem like a very capable fighter, so I am quite eager to test your strength," Yumei admitted, offering up a small smile. "Try not to go too easy on me, however. I may be pregnant, but I am still very much a warrior."

That said, she dropped into a familiar fighting stance and gestured for Auryon to come at her.

The black-haired girl raised an eyebrow, hesitating as she eventually slipped into her stance as well. "Very well; however, I will stress that we're simply sparring, and despite your handicap, I will not hold back."

The two warriors stared at each other for a tense moment before charging.

Yumei studied Auryon for a split second, watching her charge before side-stepping out of the way at the very last moment. She lashed out with her fist afterward, her blow just grazing Auryon's cheek as her opponent dodged the strike. Auryon kept her distance after that, the two of them circling one another before Yumei rushed in and threw another punch at her.

The two of them sparred like this for several minutes before finally breaking apart. By the end of the match, Yumei was already breathing heavily, her cheeks flushed red from exertion. Normally she wouldn't be so winded...but due to her pregnancy, well, even a light sparring match left her feeling more tired than usual.

"Not bad, Auryon. You're a pretty good fighter," Yumei complimented, relaxing her stance. "It's a pity I can't go all out. I would love to face you in a real fight."

"Heh, same to you. I bet you've forgotten what it's like to take a blow to the stomach..." The slayer half-joked, relaxing as well and wiping sweat from her brow. "Depending on who the father of that kid is, I bet he or she will turn out to be a strong warrior, just like their mother." Auryon complimented.

Yumei's face fell for a moment, but she covered it up just as soon as it happened, adopting a more neutral expression. At the thought of her babies, though, she couldn't help but give a genuine smile. "I'm carrying twin boys, actually. And...their father was a strong man, in many ways. If they can become even half the man he was, that would be more than enough for me."

Auryon frowned, having noticed Yumei's momentary change of expression, but before she could open her mouth to respond, another feminine voice cut in.

"Well now, it certainly sounds like you two were a good match for each other," Roberta piped up, having been listening in on the conversation. "I'd really like to hear more about this man."

The Slayer frowned, clicking her tongue in disapproval. "I don't believe that's any of your business, Roberta."

Yumei glanced over at Roberta; amidst their duel, she must have walked in unnoticed. At any rate, she waved Auryon off, giving her a reassuring smile. "It is fine, Auryon. I...do not mind talking about him."

She paused, briefly wondering what to say. There were plenty of things she could say about the father of her children; enough to fill a book. But here and now, to these perfect strangers...what could she say? What did she _want_ to say?

"..His name was Tonbe Woch. We were in a Killing Game together, one of the main ones run by Ultimate Despair. It was a trying time, to say the least. But...we managed to get along. We talked, we sparred, and we made love. Tonbe...was a good man. He was kind, gentle, loving...and the sweetest man I ever met," she recalled, a bittersweet smile touching her lips.

It was hard, remembering Tonbe. It made her happy, and yet it also brought her to tears many times. They hadn't known each other long, but their time together had made a huge impact on her: and not just because she was carrying his children. He had sacrificed his life to save her own, after all. That was something she would never forget.

And yet...

She was also putting him on a pedestal: elevating him to such lofty heights in her mind when he was just as human as she was. Intellectually, she knew and recognized this; but at the same time, it was a hard habit to break out of. Particularly when she _knew_ that Tonbe had been a better person than she could ever aspire to be.

Auryon gave a small smile and awkwardly patted Yumei on the shoulder. "It's okay, you don't have to say anymore. Clearly he was a very capable and patient man, and a strong warrior, both mentally and physically. Even though I have not met him, he's earned nothing but my respect based on the reverence you give him."

Roberta remained silent for a few moments before eventually deciding to chime in. "It's clear that talking about him is painful for you, so I can assume he is no longer on this plane of existence. Trust me, I myself have lost many friends on my journey through life. Never hesitate to grieve, it's what makes us human," she said, an unusual amount of softness in her words.

"Thank you both, truly," Yumei replied, offering them both a thankful smile. She cleared her throat a moment later, hoping to change subjects as she switched topics.

"Let us not dwell on such matters, however. Even in this horrid place, we must find peace however we can," she declared. "Ah! I think I have an idea. Do either of you possess cellular phones, perchance? Perhaps we could play a game together, like Pokemon Go, or Clash of Clans, or some such thing!"

"I... what? No." Auryon said flatly, bewildered. "Why would I worry or play something so pointless at a time like this?"

An amused smile worked its way onto Roberta's face, however. "I, unfortunately, do not, but I think I did hear Fuka rambling on about mobile games earlier. Truly, people these days have the strangest addictions."

Yumei couldn't help but give a little pout, dejected by both Auryon and Roberta's denial. Still, she didn't let that bother her for long. Instead, she touched a finger to her chin and began considering her options. "Fuka, you say...? Interesting. I might just have to ask her about that later..."

* * *

The sun was just starting to set over the horizon, casting a somewhat somber, dim light upon the castle grounds. Kaiten herself had done a few laps around the courtyard already, and Nora was busy, so she didn't have much better to do. Thus she kept on skating across the smooth stone pathway that lined all over the area.

Upon her final lap though, she noticed some people had come into the yard. She spotted Kalisto over at the stables, calmly brushing one of the manes of the horses, while Asan hung out nearby and chatted his ear off. Meanwhile, she also spotted Zetico hiding just behind a nearby tree, a monocular pressed to his good eye as he observed the duo.

Kaiten raised an eyebrow as the sight, and after a moment, skated her way over to the Professional Agent. "Yo, Zetico! Whatcha up to?"

"Yahaha! Well as a professional it's my job to keep an eye on things. And since I only got the one I gotta make sure I'm watching everyone!" he happily announced towards the high roller. After a few moments, he loudly smacked his forehead. "Ah crap, I wasn't supposed to give away my position!"

"We knew you were there, dude. Whatever you were eating a bit ago you kept yelling about how good it was," Asan called back, waving at them.

Zetico shot up to his feet in place, sticking his tongue out. "Yeah well... ugh what's a good rebuttal insult... Why don't you two just kiss and get it over with!"

Kalisto raised an eyebrow, before rolling his eyes at Zetico. Kaiten, meanwhile, gave a small chuckle and rolled a little closer to the others. "Hey, how's it hanging? What're you two doing out here?"

"Went to take care of horses. Asan...follow along. Told him no. He come anyway," Kalisto gruffly replied in broken English.

Asan crossed his hands behind his head as he grinned widely. "He did but I thought it would be important to keep him company since it's a death game and all. I know I only got through by having friends I could depend on, like Jackie. So I figured I could be that for him!"

"I no need friends. I good on my own," Kalisto stubbornly insisted, a small scowl spreading across his lips.

Kaiten, meanwhile, offered Asan a grin of her own. "Heh, sounds like a good plan there, kid. And despite what he says, I'm sure Mister Grumpy Pants there appreciates it. I know I would!"

"Hell yeah!" Zetico shouted as he jumped and landed beside the group. He slapped a hand onto the EMT's shoulder. "Besides you look pretty tough, want to fight with me?"

Asan chuckled but stopped as he gave a short sad glance towards Kalisto. Be looked back at Zetico with a more serious look. "Sorry dude, I only want to use these hands for healing. But I would be happy to help you with any other training."

"Hey, if you're looking for a fight, I'm fairly sure that Takehiko guy would take you up on that," Kaiten pointed out, a small smirk on her face. "He seems like he loves fighting people. Probably the sort of guy who'd be into dom stuff too...but eh, that don't matter."

"What is 'dom'?" Kalisto suddenly questioned, his brows furrowed as he tilted his head. "I...not familiar...with that word."

A devilish grin flashed over her face, and Kaiten couldn't help but give a small giggle. "A very good question! Hey Asan, why don't you take this one? I think you'd be able to explain that better than me!"

Asan quickly started tapping his finger against his chin as he went deep in thought. "'Dom?' Hmm... Nope sorry I don't know that one either. Though I don't know much about anything that isn't medical related. And 'dom' doesn't ring any bells."

Zetico nearly doubled over laughing as he walked up to Kaiten. "Oh my god, this is great! I almost don't want to steal their innocents from them!"

Kaiten couldn't help but snort herself, covering her mouth with a hand as she chortled with delight. "Oh man, that's too much! Ha...ah, I don't want to ruin this at all. Besides, I have a feeling that someone might yell at me if I tell 'em, especially Asan."

Kalisto still looked very confused, but shrugged to himself, when neither answered him right away.

Asan raised an eyebrow as he watched the two before sighing. After an awkward pause, he looked over at the Adventurer. "So, forgetting about that weird stuff... do you like horses? Ugh, do you work with animals a lot, Kai?"

"...My village had...lots of animals. Worked beside them...for years. Still respect animals, and nature, a lot," Kalisto replied after a moment, giving a small nod. "Used to have...pet snake, when I was child."

"Ooh cool, I always wanted a pet but wasn't allowed. Must have been fun though," Asan said.

Zetico leaned over towards Kaiten and tried his best to lower his voice. "Kai would definitely be one on top right?"

"Oh, totally. I can't imagine Asan being anything but the bottom. Kid's too innocent to be forceful enough to be on top," Kaiten agreed with a small snicker.

Before the two could confer any more, however, the distorted, masculine voice Dios sometimes used echoed throughout the courtyard.

_"Attention all participants! Please report to the main hall as soon as possible. The real game is about to begin. Anyone who is late shall suffer a harsh penalty. So hop to it!"_

"Jeez, I wonder what that guy wants now," Zetico muttered as he turned to look over his group. "I guess we should go... But let's have some fun with it. How about a race? To sweeten the deal winner gets a cupcake!" he declared holding up a pristine and perfectly made chocolate cupcake.

"Well that's just all sugar and carbs, but a race sounds great to me! I don't need much excuse to go for a run anyways!" Asan replied, pumping his fist. "Are you going to join us, Kai? Should be fun!"

Kalisto shrugged, not seeming to care either way. Kaiten, meanwhile, grinned widely and snickered to herself.

"A race huh? The girl with the rollerblades on probably has an unfair advantage...but that's fine with me! Three two one go!" Kaiten declared, before racing forward with a joyous cackle. It didn't take her long at all to race ahead of Zetico and Asan, who trailed after her...

* * *

After Dios made their sudden, castle-wide announcement for everyone to report to the main foyer, the group, Yumei included, had all begrudgingly gathered there. They'd been waiting for over twenty minutes now, though Dios had yet to show themselves.

Yumei stood next to Fuka and Kogo, scowling as she crossed her arms. They were all starting to feel a little restless now, herself included. Just how much longer would Dios keep them waiting like this?

Then, without warning, the lights in the room suddenly cut off, bathing the area in pitch-black darkness. Cries of alarm filtered through the room, while Yumei herself immediately tensed, already on guard. However, before she could fully process this a light from seemingly nowhere at all shone a spotlight on the top of the staircase to the second floor. Then a voice distinctly similar to a certain green frog rang throughout the room:

"_Introducing our very special guest: Dios, as played by Dios! Hooray!"_

And stepping into the spotlight was the Mastermind themself, Dios. Although...there was one distinct difference from their earlier appearances. A rather hard to miss change, in fact.

Somehow, someway, Dios had turned himself into a Muppet.

"_Welcome one and all to the Dios Show! As hosted by your humble host, Dios!" _the Dios puppet proclaimed, their voice now almost a carbon copy of a rather famous anthropomorphic green frog. "_Now ladies and gentlemen, do not be alarmed! For I've got no strings to hold me down! Behold!"_

And then, with the strings and wires controlling the Muppet version of Dios shimmering slightly against the spotlight, they proceeded to do an entire dance routine.

"...What the hell is this?" Fuka whispered beside Yumei, pure bafflement laden through her tone. "I mean, seriously. What the fuck?"

"Well, I'm never looking at the Muppets the same way again," Kotaro quipped, taking a large swig from his flask. Only to discover that it was, in fact, empty. He then scowled and proceeded to wind his arm back, before tossing the flask straight at Dios. It sailed straight through the air and nailed the puppet right in its googly eye. "Boo! You stink! Just fucking get on with it already!"

The Muppet Dios visibly deflated, its shoulders sagging. Meanwhile, the googly eye that had been hit now hung loosely from its face, knocked out of place. "_Aww. We didn't even get to the Spooky Scary Stories with Dios segment. I had a whole song planned out and everything, too…it was all about how ghosts aren't real, but my lust for blood is! Come on, don't you wanna hear it?"_

The only reply Muppet Dios received was a bullet to the forehead, courtesy of Jackie. Cotton stuffing liberally leaked out of the puppet's head, and it dramatically fell to the ground, out of sight behind the banisters.

A moment later the real Dios slowly rose up from where they'd obviously been controlling the puppet, mournfully clutching the fatally slain Muppet to their chest. "Muppet Dios! Noooo! They had so much to live for!"

Yumei just sighed, briefly pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to push past her own growing ire. "Drop the dramatics, Dios. You called us here for a reason. What is it? Are you going to hand out a motive or something?"

At that, Dios immediately perked up. They carelessly dropped the Muppet, and stepped forward to the main railing of the second floor, leaning against it as they stared down below at their captives. "Why yes, Miss Mao! You would be right about that. After much consideration, I have a rather fitting motive conjured up for you all. The question is...will you survive it?"

Such an ominous tone drew everyone's attention and restored the tense atmosphere briefly dashed by Dios' actions. At that same moment, a sudden loud bang echoed through the room. That startled just about everyone, and after a second bang, Yumei managed to figure out where it was coming from:

The main entrance into the castle. Someone, or something, was banging against the closed doors.

"Survival is the name of the game this day. What will you do to ensure your survival? What will you sacrifice in order to ensure that you and others may live?" Dios continued on, ignoring the pounding at their door. "Will you let the sins of your past eat you alive? Or will you persevere and emerge triumphantly? I am most curious to see the outcome…"

"What is the meaning of this? What are you doing?!" Naoki demanded. At the same time, the banging at the door only increased in frequency, and little by little, cracks started to emerge on the thick wooden frame.

"The dead rest uneasy in their graves. I only gave them some...motivation, to rise up and take what they wish. What you do next is entirely up to you," Dios proclaimed, giving a small chuckle. "In fact, if I were you...I would start running. They aren't going to be held back forever by that door."

Just after they said that the door shuddered again as the creatures behind it continued battering the frames. The entrance creaked ominously, as deeper fracture lines started splintering across the structure.

Yumei stared at the door, her eye wide in horror as the incessant banging continued. Before she even realized it, Naoki had suddenly scooped her up, dashing away with Fuka and Kogo at his side. Mere moments later, the doorway suddenly gave way and was shattered entirely.

With nothing to bar their entry any further, a hoard of decaying corpses began rushing into the castle, prepared to hunt down and devour the living inside.


	11. Revenants of the Past 1-4

The howls of the undead echoed through the castle walls, as the zombie hoard flooded inside. The moment the door had broken done, the entire group had scattered, and by the time Naoki had carried her up the stairs to the second floor, Yumei had lost track of everyone else.

Between Naoki's speed and strength though, he was able to stay one step ahead of the hoard. Fuka and Kogo struggled to keep up with the massive man, but they managed long enough to arrive at their destination. With a determined cry, Naoki stopped just in front of the armory doors and kicked them open, darting inside. The others followed him in, and after gently depositing her back onto the floor, he rushed to close them back up.

Wordlessly, Naoki then rushed over to a nearby armoire filled with armor. Though he struggled somewhat with its weight, he managed to drag it over to the doors, and propped it against them, forming a makeshift barricade.

"There...that should buy us some time, at least," Naoki declared, wiping some sweat off of his bald head. "Are you ladies all right?"

Kogo sighed as she stood by Yumei's side. "For right now, thankfully my luck didn't trip me up back there."

"I'm fine as well, thanks to your quick thinking!" Fuka added, taking a deep breath as she clutched a hand over her chest. "Will we be secure in here, at least for the time being?"

"I am fine too. Slightly rattled, but, that is the least of our worries right now," Yumei stated as she smoothed out her maternity gown.

"Good to hear. As for our security...well, it should hold up for some time at least. Besides that, we _are_ in the armory. If nothing else, we will be able to arm ourselves with the weaponry present, and be able to put up some defense," Naoki pointed out, before going over to the opposite end of the room.

Among the rack of weaponry was a longbow and a quiver full of arrows, which he deftly picked up and stowed on his person. "It's been some time since I practiced my archery, but I should be able to help defend us, if nothing else."

For her part, Yumei briefly eyed the weaponry all around them, before shaking her head. "I feel more comfortable using my fists, personally. I'm far more trained using my body as a weapon."

The Virologist had a completely different tune, however, as she nonchalantly picked up a small assault rifle."Believe it or not, I actually am quite skilled in self defense with firearms, my husband taught me." She explained, locking and loading the weapon as if it was second nature. "I'm very well capable of taking care of myself."

"Well that's good to hear, but I'm kinda dead weight here. With my talent I've tried to make it a point to avoid weapons," Kogo explained. She gave a weary look at all the dangerous weapons surrounding her.

"It shouldn't be an issue, don't worry." Fuka offered, trying her best to sound reassuring. "Just stay behind one of us if things take a turn for the worst, and watch our backs. Though let's pray the armory holds out and that such a plan become a non factor."

"Indeed, the good Doctor's plan is solid. And if it comes to it, I would not hesitate to defend your life Kogo!" Yumei pledged, a small smile on her face.

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. It certainly would not be ideal to have someone in your condition fight..." Naoki murmured, giving a small sigh. "In fact...if it comes down to it, don't hesitate to abandon me. I'm an old man, and I've lived a good life. You three, however, have far much more to live for. I'd gladly give up my life if it meant you all lived."

The paramount charm frowned as she walked up to the man. "I don't know about that, I've already died once, and you'd be able to actually help people Mr. Watanabe. I would feel awful if I just let you or anyone else behind."

"Indeed. I've seen far too many good people lose their lives these past few years. I'll be damned if I see anyone else die that I can help." The Perfect Virologist said softly, glaring at Naoki. "So don't think like that, if not for yourself, then at least for the rest of us."

"I must agree. Such pessimistic talk is unbecoming of you, Naoki," Yumei chided.

For his part, Naoki gave a sheepish smile and nodded. "I understand your point, ladies. Very well; let's do our best to make sure we all make it out of here, then!"

The next moment, there was a sudden crashing sound, as something pounded against the barred doorway. Naoki was instantly on alert, and had an arrow nocked and ready to fire, while Yumei dropped into a defensive position. A moment later however, the banging stopped...and a voice all too familiar to Fuka spoke behind the door.

"_Won't you let me in, Fuka? Please? I'm so hungry out here..."_

The blue haired woman in question gasped, her hands shaking as she dropped the gun and fell to her knees. After a moment she found her voice. "Ayeka? Is that you?"She choked out softly.

_"Is this any way to treat a friend, Fuka? Do you really hate me that much?" _the soft voice of Ayeka cooed through the doorway. _"Please, just let me in. I just want to see you..."_

"Don't listen to it, Fuka!" Yumei hissed, crouching down beside the doctor. "I don't know who that person is, but whoever you _think _it is...it's a fake. Something conjured up by Dios to torment you. It is not really this Ayeka whatsoever!"

"This definitely screams of being some kinda trick by Dios. Don't let them get into your head," Kogo added, gently grabbing a hold of Fuka's hand.

"I... your right." Fuka took a deep breath, slowly standing back up. "Apologies, that voice caught me off guard. It belongs to an old friend." She explained softly.

"It's quite all right, dear. We understand," Naoki replied.

Before he could say any more however, the banging at the door suddenly resumed as the creature behind it battered against the door frame. _"Let me in Fuka! Let me in! I'm so hungry! I need to eat! This is your fault! I died because of you! LET ME IN!"_

The Virologist eyed the door sadly, before sighing and hardening her gaze as she seemingly talked to herself. "I'm responsible for a lot of things, but your death isn't one of them, Ayeka. I choose to remember you as a good friend, not... whatever this is." She spat in disgust, reaching down and picking up her gun. "I swear, if an opportunity presents itself, I'll blow that head off of Dios's disgusting body."

Silence greeted Fuka's statement, and the banging at the entrance mercifully stopped once more. Several tense minutes passed by, but no more sounds could be heard. Slowly but surely they all started to relax, as the immediate danger seemed to pass.

"It seems we're alone now...I hope so, at least," Naoki remarked, lowering his bow. "Still, who knows what'll happen next. If more undead start hammering at the door...or if others come, people we might also know..."

A dark look passed over his face, and Naoki cast his gaze to the floor. "...I have many regrets from my life. And many people...died because of me. I shudder to think about my past being turned against me like that..."

"I agree," Yumei said, nodding her head. "This is only the beginning, I fear. Dios will no doubt ramp up their psychological warfare as the motive goes on."

Any further conversation was cut off, however, as a decayed fist suddenly punched through the wooden frame of the blocked door. The cacophony of noise also returned at the same time, as the undead surged against the entrance. The door buckled and cracked from the force, and their makeshift barricade threatened to soon follow.

"Looks like we got company!" Fuka declared, before leveling her gun and aiming it at the entrance. "This is gonna be a tough fight…"

"So it seems. We can't stay in this room any longer, either...we'll have to fight our way out, and hopefully find shelter elsewhere," Naoki agreed, nocking an arrow with his free hand. "Get ready everyone!"

Seconds later, the door completely broke apart, and the barricade was pushed aside as the zombies surged into the room

* * *

Kotaro had booked it up the stairs as fast as he could, several others trailing behind him. Even as he ran though, the horde was hot on his heels; it seemed these zombies were the fast kind, as they all surged behind him, running after Kotaro and the others at full speed.

Once he arrived on the second floor, he immediately veered toward the first available room, which just so happened to be the library. He practically shoulder-checked the door open, rushing inside. Luminisa and Nana followed in right behind him. Pietro and Trixie were nowhere to be seen however; in the chaos of their rout, they must have gone in a different direction.

"Lumi, help me barricade the door!" Kotaro was quick to say. They couldn't afford to wait and see if anyone else was coming to join them; instead he moved to push a bookshelf against the main entrance, a task that his student helped him with in quick order.

They managed to prop up the shelf against the doors just in time too: the doors started to shake and shudder within seconds, as the horde rammed against the entrance.

"Oh dear," the Erotic Novelist vocalized rather pointlessly as she dusted off her hands. She leaned back against the shelf, lending her lanky mass to the barricade as she eyed her two companions with a fair bit of concern—by her standards.

"I see we've lost Trixie..." The woman's witch hat jostled with every impact. "No, no, we mustn't fret just yet. She must be with Pietro, and at the very least, he'd make for a far more lavish feast. For a chef's career to end with said chef serving himself as the final course...Such noteworthy irony!"

"Heh, I'm sure Pietro can take care of himself and Trixie. Whatever version of Pietro we're talking about, he's made of some strong stuff. I got a feeling he'll make it through," Kotaro replied, leaning against the shelf as well. After a moment he got a cigarette out from his pocket, lighting it up before taking a drag from it.

Nana, meanwhile, stared at them both with a less than pleased expression on her face. In particular, her gaze seemed to linger on Lumi. "Nana didn't want to be with you smelly hooman! Nana wanted to run with the doggie! Nana must have been confused by the awful smell of the dead hoomans. Woof."

Lumi made a face at her former teacher before using her long reach to flick the cigarette from his fingers. "With all due respect, Sir, why is it that you and so many others insist on an addiction to these ludicrous smokestacks? You don't see me smoking, now do you?" she chided with a testy countenance.

The woman then made a minute adjustment to her expression as she craned her neck down toward Nana. "Why, 'woof-woof' to you too, little cutie! I've been meaning to say hello, though I truly wish it were under better circumstances. Well, no matter! Come give Auntie a hug—she'll protect you. Oh, if you'd like, I can pretend to be a giraffe?"

Nana recoiled, the visible parts of her face scrunching up in obvious disgust at Luminisa's offer. "Gross! Nana refuses to touch a stinky hooman! And Nana can tell you aren't a giraffe! You're too short! Go find Nana a real giraffe! Ribbit."

"We all have our vices, Luminisa. Would you rather I drink at a time like this? Not that I have any booze on me right now...I'll have to go find wherever my flask landed after this," Kotaro remarked a moment later, before drawing out another stick from his clothes. He lit it up without a care, taking an even longer drag from it. "Assuming I don't get eaten alive or something. Heh, I knew I was gonna die, but I didn't think it'd be this soon...let alone to some goddamn zombies."

"But I'm not stinky!" Lumi pouted a little. Incredulously, she began to fan herself as if trying to waft her scent over to the girl. "There, are you not assaulted ever so gently by the bouquet of sweet cinnamon?"

She soon returned her hands back to her hips and clucked her tongue like a mother hen. "It's much too soon to just give up—we haven't even made it through the first act! At times like these, it's best to imagine we have the child protagonist amongst us, and I would think dear Nana is a perfect fit, don't you agree? There is no world where such an important character is written off with such brevity! Furthermore, we're surrounded by knowledge—no matter how drab it may be. Surely the answer to survival is here?"

Nana literally hissed like a cat in response, pawing at the air in front of her with her mitten-covered hands. It was definitely clear she didn't appreciate Lumi's gesture.

Kotaro rolled his eyes meanwhile, opening his mouth to speak...but stopped short. He cocked his head to one side and listened for a moment. "...Do you hear that?"

Indeed, the sound of absolute silence echoed through the room. The sudden banging and thudding at the door had stopped just as soon as it started. Not a single sound from the undead could be heard. For one reason or another, the horde seemed to have left them behind.

"Well, looks like we might be safe here for a bit," Kotaro stated, taking another drag from his cigarette. "Dunno why they just left like that, but I ain't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth."

"...It could be a trick? That despicable Dios most likely used their magic to craft these zombies, so it stands to reason that they may be more intelligent than we assume? They could just be standing there—waiting for us to venture out," Lumi suggested in a hushed tone. She had a finger pressed to her lips.

"Mm, it's a distinct possibility. I wasn't about to suggest we leave, anyway. We're safer in here than anywhere else, for the time being at least," Kotaro said. He finally finished his cigarette, and flicked the remains off onto the floor.

"Either way, I have a feeling this is part of the motive. Divide us, make us scared and hopeless...that's how these twisted fucks like to operate. More likely than not, the zombies go away the minute someone is murdered," he continued.

"Agreed," Lumi said as she walked over to the abandoned cigarette. She exhausted its life with a quick stomp of her boot before adding, "But please mind your language around our precious children."

Wielding a sinister smile, the woman promptly took one huge step behind Nana and proceeded to wrangle the wild animal into her arms so that she could shower her with headpats. "My, my, I suppose I've been spoiled lately due to Trixie's constant availability as a stress toy. You'll just have to be her substitute, won't you?" There was an almost audible 'heart' punctuating her rhetorical question.

Nana hissed some more, and struggled wildly to break free from Luminisa's grip. At the same time, Lumi's head patting ruffled the black and white, penguin like hood she always wore. "No! Bad hooman! Let Nana go! Or Nana will bite you! Woof!"

Kotaro couldn't help but chuckle at the both. As he moved to sit at a nearby table he said, "Don't tease Nana too bad, Lumi. I got an odd feeling that she doesn't particularly like you very much."

That stated, he planted himself in a chair, leaning back against it as he drummed his fingers against the table in front of him. At the same time he reached into his pocket with his other hand...and pulled out a small knife. With a grim smile on his lips he said, "Heh, if it comes down to it, guess I'll have to put this thing to good use. Suicide still counts as murder in these games, after all..."

"Oh, there you go at it again!" Lumi muttered with repugnance before sighing. She hoisted the—now actively chomping—girl into the air and carried her over to the table. Sitting down in a chair opposite to Kotaro, she then sat the 'penguin plush' down onto her lap.

"You're not setting a very good example for our future generations, you know? Consider how impressionable our dear Nana most certainly is, for instance!" She gave the girl's fluffy midsection a squeeze for emphasis.

Nana wriggled and squirmed in Lumi's grasp, doing her best to also bite the novelist with her mouth; a task made harder than it needed to be given her mouth was covered up by her outfit. Despite her struggling though, she couldn't seem to escape.

"Well, I never said I was a particularly good teacher or role model, now did I?" Kotaro countered, giving a mirthless chuckle. "...Besides, it's not like I have long anyway, Lumi. It's not a good time to tell you...but no time like the present, eh?"

Kotaro fell silent, closing his eyes briefly as he seemed to marshal his thoughts. After a long minute of silence, though, he finally spoke.

"...I have lung cancer, Lumi. _Terminal_ lung cancer. I only got a few more months left in me before my body kills me. Fact of the matter is, I'm a dead man walking. I may as well join those zombies out there."

At his confession, the woman's hug slackened around her sentient plush toy, allowing the girl to slip away, which Nana did so quickly. She then slowly reached up to tug the flaps of her hat down and was silent for a while.

Finally, Lumi looked up—eyes moist like freshly-poured caramel—and said, "A few months is still a few months, isn't it...?"

Kotaro gave a bitter smile in return, not saying anything for a long moment.

"Sure...but if killing myself meant you and Pietro and the others didn't get eaten by the dead...I think it'd be a worthy sacrifice, wouldn't you say so?" he quietly countered, his face the perfect mask of calm acceptance. "Besides...I failed you, Lumi. You, Pietro, Irina, Lucius...everyone in our class who didn't make it. Even those who did...I failed you, as a teacher and a mentor. Do I really have any right to fight for my own life?"

"...I'm not a counselor, Mr. Kanaka. As peerless as I—" she cut herself off as a small giggle that was really more of a sob escaped her lips "—as I am, I doubt I'd be able to convince you otherwise...Still, I'll try. I'm a failure as well; that much goes without saying."

Suddenly, there was a crack in her porcelain features. Scarlet tinged her glistening cheeks as she yelled, "Those same deaths were on my hands as well! Sir, if you truly wish to be a proper adult and take responsibility, you can do a hell of a lot better than simply dying like so many of us have been fantasizing ourselves! And yes, at this moment I do happen to be quite miffed!"

Kotaro appeared genuinely shocked, not expecting his student to get so furious with him. He had no idea what to say in response.

"...Heh," he let out a small laugh, shaking his head a moment later as he recovered his senses. "You're right. Sorry, Lumi. I suppose I'm just...looking for the easy way out, aren't I? I really am an awful teacher..."

Chest heaving, Lumi gradually calmed down and began idly fixing her hair. As evident by the man's reaction, it had been a very long time since she had raised her voice to such a feverish pitch. She had even surprised herself.

"...Yes, well, in the admittance of your awful lecturing, you'll have plenty of opportunities to make up for it." Lumi did her best to beam brightly at the man. "See us through this mess, if you would. We'll breeze through this pitiful excuse of a game in no time at all, and spend the rest of our days together on some tropical excursion!"

"Now wouldn't that be something," Kotaro murmured, a more genuine smile crossing his features. "Well, I promise I'll do my best. For what it's worth. Not like my promises have meant all that much these days..."

"Now, now, don't go back to moping so soon!" Lumi wagged her finger at the man before firing off an unexpected wink. "I, for one, intend to keep my promises. Hmm, though garish it may have been, I sorely miss that Aloha shirt of yours from back when you taught us—it made for quite the handsome outline. Why, you'll be eaten alive at all the exotic bordellos I'll be dragging you along to! Fufufu!"

Kotaro chuckled some more, actual mirth lacing his tone as some good humor was restored to him. "Is that so? Well, maybe I'll start spicing up my wardrobe again after all this is over. Gotta dress to impress the ladies, no?"

Lumi giggled in reply, though before she could say anything, a sudden loud crash echoed throughout the room. Both she and Kotaro briefly tensed, expecting a rush of zombies to flood into the room...but that didn't happen.

When nothing happened for a long minute, the two started to relax, and looked around for the source of the noise. They soon found it: underneath a pile of books and a fallen book shelf, the muffled cries of Nana could be heard.

"Shit...guess she must have knocked it over on herself, or something," Kotaro swore, and immediately got to his feet. "Come on, let's make sure she's all right."

Luminisa nodded, and the two dashed over to help Nana out of her latest predicament.

* * *

The sound of gunfire echoed through the hall, as Jackie, Kaiten, Takeji, and Nora fought their way through the undead horde. Unlike some of the others, they hadn't been fast enough to fully outrun the zombies...leading to a desperate fighting retreat through the halls of the second story.

On the bright side, the narrow halls of the second floor helped to funnel in the zombies, making it easier to pick them off as they all bunched up together, getting in each other's way in their desperate rush to get at them. On the other hand, however, the surging horde effectively cut off any chance of escaping back to the first floor, or out of the castle entirely.

"Hell! There just ain't no end to these things!" Jackie thundered, even as she aimed one of her pistols and gunned down another running zombie, nailing it directly in the head.

"Well, it's not like Dios was gonna make this easy on us!' Kaiten agreed, swinging her bat a moment later to bash in a zombie's head. She'd made sure to grab it from the armory earlier that day; her choice seemed quite fortuitous now, given their current situation. "Still, if we can just make it to the bar...maybe we can improvise a Molotov cocktail or something, and clear a path through these things!"

"Heh, that's not a half bad idea..." Takeji mused, concentrating as he aimed a crossbow a zombie, eventually letting the arrow fly as it passed through the zombie's head, effectively neutralizing several others behind it. "We gotta actually get to it first, though..."

Nora heaved out heavy breaths, hiding behind Kaiten as she looked around. "Maybe we can push through this group to the right? There's not as many of them over here!"

"Well, we don't really got a choice...it's our only shot," Jackie grumbled, before firing at another zombie, blowing out the back of its head. "And I'm gonna run outta bullets here real quick. We gotta push through!"

"Heh, really should have put my skates on earlier...then again, I really wouldn't have been able to climb the stairs..." Kaiten mused. A second later another undead broke free from the bunched up horde and rushed at her. Two quick hits, one to its knee to bring it down, and another to its head, eliminated it as a threat.

"All right! Let's do this shit. One, two, three...go!" the High Roller declared a moment later, a wolfish grin on her face.

She surged forward seconds later, Jackie, Nora, and Takeji not far behind her. Between them all, they managed to carve a path through the more sparse right flank of the horde, breaking through to the other side: the half of the second story where, thankfully, the bar was located.

"All right! Let's move people! Go go go!" Jackie barked out, before making a beeline towards the bar.

As the group made it to a bar, Takeji instantly began rummaging around for the things needed to make a Molotov, the boy smirking triumphantly as he found what he needed.

"Nora, get over here and help me build these, pull your weight!" He grunted. As the two began working, Takeji glanced up at Jackie. "How are they looking? Thinning out any?"

Jackie peeked out the door briefly, eyeing the outside nervously before slamming it back shut. "They're all gettin' in each other's way tryin' ta turn around and get over to us...but, they won't be stuck for long. Won't take 'em long till they're banging at the door, and I ain't confident in how long this door'll hold 'em off..."

"So, what's the plan after we set 'em on fire? Try to find a way out on the castle grounds? Try to lose 'em in the dungeons, maybe?" Kaiten suggested, leaning against her bat. "We need to have some idea of what we're doing next."

Takeji chuckled, displaying the finished Molotovs to the others. "Well, if blowing them all up won't get them all, the dungeons thing ain't a bad idea. Well, unless..."

"Unless what?" Nora asked nervously.

"...Unless we just run into more zombies in the dungeon" He finished simply. "Whatever we do, we need to decide fast."

"I vote for the dungeon. Seems like our best bet, all things considered!" Kaiten declared. Jackie herself seemed hesitant about the idea, but nonetheless voiced her agreement a moment later.

"Seems that's settled then. All right...let's do this!" Kaiten exclaimed, her shark-like teeth on full display as she grinned.

That said, the group spent a moment preparing themselves. Then, Jackie readied herself at the door and threw it open. Takeji's Molotov cocktails followed seconds later, soaring through the air and smashing against the surging horde. The bottle broke apart and the flame spread quickly across the horde, the zombies themselves proving extremely flammable.

However, there was a fatal flaw to their strategy: the zombies felt no pain. And while the heat of the flames managed to take out some...mostly they were left with zombies that were now on fire, on top of the dangerous threat they already posed.

"Ah..." Kaiten eyed the horde nervously, readying her bat as the now on fire zombies surged toward them. "Maybe that was a mistake."

"Well, nothing we can do about it now," Takeji grumbled. "We need to make a break for it. Now. Nora, the least you can do is watch our backs."

The woman in question simply nodded, springing to her feet as she began to move towards Kaiten.

"Shit, this ain't gonna be fun..." Jackie murmured to herself, a frustrated groan escaping her lips.

After that, there wasn't much else to be said: the horde was nearly upon them after all. With few options left and not much else in their favor, the group charged out of the bar to brave the horde once more…

* * *

Fuka had run out of ammunition for her firearm some time ago, forcing her to ditch the weapon and kite around the zombies as best as she could. She was managing to skirt around large clusters well enough, and even jammed up some of the groups as they ran into each other trying to get at her.

Even with that, though, she was only human. And there were so many of the undead packing the castle...

Salvation arrived just in the nick of time for the doctor, however. Just when it felt like she was losing steam, Fuka could hear voices coming from one of the rooms on the first floor. And after pounding on the entrance, there was a rush of movement inside before the door swung open, and she was let in.

Pietro boarded up the door to the medical office once more as Fuka collapsed to the floor, exhausted and out of breath. Besides the one-armed chef, she could see three others in the room: Trixie, Tina, and Naoki's German Shepard, Sadie.

"Thank God, I almost didn't make it..." She told the group breathlessly, collapsing onto her back. "I got separated from the group I was with, and ran out of ammo."

Tina frowned, eyeing the doctor oddly. "You seem to have more skill than you let on. Most people wouldn't last long like that alone."

"Yeah...are you sure you're just a doctor?" Trixie echoed, raising an eyebrow at Fuka.

Pietro, meanwhile, leaned back against the wall with a sigh. "Smart thinking, Doctor. Well, hopefully you'll be safe here with us. So far we haven't had any undead try and bother us...yet. It's likely only a matter of time until they start hammering at the door..."

"They probably will soon, if only because of me... I swear, they seem to have a grudge against me!" Fuka halfheartedly joked, sitting against the wall to recover her stamina. "I just hope the others I was with are ok."

"As long as they stay together in a group, they should be fine." Tina replied monotonously.

"Well, if they're hungry for flesh, there are plenty of other juicer targets they could go after. I mean, Tina and I wouldn't make for a good meal, Pietro is missing an arm, and Fuka's meat would probably be pretty tough and old..." Trixie mused. Upon seeing them all look at her, though, she scowled and crossed her arms. "Well _sorry _for trying to lighten the mood! I'm just *trying* to forget how screwed we all are!"

"...Well, I suppose I can't fault you for your intentions," Pietro said, shaking his head. "We are in quite the precarious situation though. Either we all get devoured by the undead, or one among us murders another. Well, if the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, it seems clear which outcome would be preferable..."

"Dark, but very true. hate the thought of anyone dying, but we should want to preserve as many lives as possible." Fuka mused, slowly rising to her feet. She glanced at Trixie and shook her head. "I'm not old. I look good for my age." She mumbled under her breath.

"I do wonder how long this is going to go on..." Tina asked, glancing out the door.

"I suppose until someone cracks under the pressure," Pietro morbidly mused. "It makes me wonder who might be the first to do so. Perhaps one of the Blackened hidden among our number...after all, once you've taken a life, it becomes easier to do so again. Or so I've heard."

Trixie, meanwhile, frowned and crossed her arms. "...You know, you're really not making a good case for yourself. I already half think you saved me and Tina earlier just so you'd have some easy targets to take out if you needed to..."

"Paranoid, are we? Smart," Pietro chuckled, smirking as he stared down at the webcam model. "I suppose we're all a little paranoid, after what we've all been through...at least, those of us who aren't painfully naive. Still, I could make better choices of prey if I wished to become a Blackened. You might be easy pickings, but Tina does have her training...the KGB are a pretty ruthless organization, after all."

At that, Tina noticeably perked up, furrowing her brows at Pietro warily. "How do you know that? Only a very select few are aware of my background."

Fuka frowned, also eyeing Pietro. "If I were you, I also wouldn't discount anyone here. Appearances can be deceiving, and whether someone is Blackened or not does not discount the fact that we all survived killing games, one way or the other."

"My research has led me down some very interesting avenues, Miss Beaufort. Very interesting indeed," Pietro cryptically proclaimed. "And a fair point, Doctor Tanaka. I suppose we all do what we must to ensure our own survival. It's human nature, after all. Right, Trixie?"

"...And what's that supposed to mean?" the girl in question asked, eyes narrowed at him.

"Admittedly, your death game was an outlier among the ones I know about...an online death roulette game, if I recall. You fought tooth and nail every round for your survival...if nothing else, I can admire that much. In fact, I'm surprised you won at all...considering you lost a challenge. How fortunate for you that you won the second chance roulette round," he said.

Trixie paled considerably, and her eyes grew wide. "You watched my game."

"I've watched many games," Pietro replied, giving a nonchalant shrug.

"Many games, but not all of them," Fuka corrected Pietro, as if reassuring herself. "Regardless, none of us are probably in any position to judge one another. I'm sure you've sullied your own hands a bit yourself, no?"

"...Perhaps. Who can say?" Pietro deflected.

Before anything else could be said though, Sadie started to let out a low growl, her teeth bared and hackles raised as the German Shepard stared at the back room door of the medical office.

"We have company..." Tina mumbled, readying her weapon.

Fuka blinked, realizing she was still defenseless. "Ah, does anyone have a weapon to spare for me? I'd rather not die today, thank you."

Pietro tossed her a bone saw, of all things, while he himself wielded a large cutting knife. "Hope you know how to use one of these, Doctor."

Then, the door to the back room swung open by itself. And out of the dark, unlit room stepped out a naked little girl. Her skin was decayed and putrid, while her throat was cut open wide, revealing the rotting flesh inside. Her face, in stark contrast, was surprisingly preserved and pristine. And because of that...it was all too easy to see how disturbingly alike she and Trixie Briedis looked. Indeed, one could mistake them for sisters, with how similar the undead child looked to the model.

The zombie said nothing, and instead stared at Beatrix pointedly, as it slowly shuffled forward. It's eyes were locked upon the model, clearly intent on targeting her as she moved. But Trixie...

Trixie did nothing. In fact, she fell to her knees in shock. Tears fell from her eyes, and an abject look of horror settled across her face. "N-no...please...it w-wasn't my fault..."

And then, as if the sight of the child undead was too much for her to handle...Trixie fainted, her body fully collapsing to the floor.

"Shit!" Tina cried, aiming her sniper rifle. She took aim, and pulled the trigger... only to discover the magazine was empty.

Tina cursed, and in an act of impulse, rushed towards the zombie and kicked it as hard as she could, dropping it to the floor. "Someone quick, get Trixie!" She cried.

Pietro and Fuka had little time to react to her words, however. Moments later the undead reached for Tina's leg, and bit into it, tearing off a bloody chunk with its teeth. The sheer pain caused Tina to crumble to the floor, a shriek barely escaping her lips before the undead climbed on top of her...and bit into her neck next.

Pietro moved in within seconds, sinking his knife deep into the undead's skull. It seized up, twitching before it fell completely still. But that didn't change the fact that the sniper was now bleeding out from gaping wounds in her leg and neck.

"No! Tina!" Fuka quickly knelt down next to Tina and pulled off her cloak, ripping it up into pieces in an attempt to stop the bleeding from the wounds. "Pietro, are there any other zombies?"

Pietro stepped forward, and cautiously peered into the back room before shaking his head. "No, there's nothing else back there."

Sadie, meanwhile, whined and nudged her nose against Tina. But the girl had fallen utterly still...her eyes opened but unfocused. A check of her pulse by Fuka proved it: Tina Beaufort, the Star Sniper, was dead.

Fuka closed her eyes and grit her teeth, gently standing up and quietly turning her head away. After a moment she turned to Pietro. "Do you think we can afford to stay here, or should we move elsewhere?"

Pietro shook his head. "We're safer staying here for right now. For all we know, that thing was in there the whole time...or Dios put it there for a laugh. Either way, I'd feel better about our odds staying put than risking it out there among the horde."

That said, he walked into the back room, before coming back with a large sheet. He draped it over the bodies of Tina and the dead child, and mumbled a brief prayer under his breath.

Trixie, meanwhile, remained unconscious, though still very much alive it seemed, as her chest rose and fell with her breathing.

Fuka sighed, sparing one last sad glance at Tina's covered body as she sat down next to Trixie and briefly checked her pulse. "She's still alive...though who knows how long she might be unconscious for."

Pietro nodded, and after a moment stated, "I don't know who that undead was...but whoever it was, it traumatized Trixie to the extreme. Enough so to shock her into unconsciousness. It makes me wonder...well, it hardly matters now. We just need to hunker down, and do our best to protect her."

"Fair enough. Not like we have much of a choice otherwise..." Fuka sighed, standing back up and grabbing Tina's sniper rifle, inspecting it gently. "One bullet. That's all she would have needed..."

* * *

"I think...we're good, for now," Kaiten spoke up after a moment, her tone betraying her utter exhaustion. She slouched against a stovetop, a light groan escaping her lips. "Goddamn, those things are just endless...I'm surprised we got out of there alive."

Indeed, it was a miracle that they'd gotten this far at all...well, most of them, at least. They'd gotten separated from Jackie and Takeji at some point; Kaiten didn't know if they were still alive, or dead now. Regardless, she and Nora had managed to break through, and race over to the kitchen. Between the two of them, they'd managed to set up a makeshift barricade. Hopefully it'd help keep the zombies from breaking in...

Unfortunately, it also blocked their only way out. Unless there was a hidden passageway in the kitchen, they'd effectively sealed themselves inside.

"I... I don't hear anything coming from the other side. I think we're fine." Nora sighed, collapsing onto a small kitchen mat to rest on. "I hope Jackie and Takeji will be alright..." She trailed off.

"We shouldn't worry about them too much. They're either dead or they're still fighting out there. Either way there's not much we can do about it," Kaiten reasoned, shaking her head. "If anything, we need to figure out how we're getting out of this. This is an castle, right...? Don't they have secret passages and stuff like that? Maybe we should search for one in here. I mean, it can't hurt."

"Mmm, you're right," Nora smiled, staggering to her feet. "It's a bit cliché, but at this point nothing would surprise me. Perhaps a pantry, cupboard, or cabinet has a hidden area?"

Kaiten nodded, stretching for a moment before she started looking around with Nora. She hadn't given the kitchen much beyond a cursory look before...but now she was wishing she'd been more thorough. But her regrets wouldn't do her any more good now, so instead she devoted herself to their search.

The pantries revealed nothing beyond what was to be expected; the same went for the cupboards. And the cabinets appeared perfectly ordinary, even after she examined them. They spent a good ten minutes searching the kitchen, and yet...

"Gah, this is such bullshit!" Kaiten groaned, seething in frustration. She lashed out against a wall, her fist impacting against the solid structure. Or maybe...not so solid, as her fist so happened to sink into a small block of brick. Though she didn't pay any attention to it, even as her anger caught up with her.

"I am so not gonna die here! I am gonna find this goddamn hidden passage if it fucking kills me!" she thundered, even as a segment of the wall behind her started to sink into the floor...revealing a new area of the kitchen entirely. Though again, she seemed far too caught up in her own drama to notice it.

Nora's eyes widened, tuning Kaiten out as she walked up to the ranting Kaiten, grabbing her by the shoulders and simply turning her around, allowing her to see the new area.

"Looks like you won't have to!" Nora teased, running a hand through her hair. "No need to get so worked up!"

Kaiten stared at the newly revealed section in brief shock, before letting a fanged grin spread across her lips. "Well well well! Heh, looks like Lady Luck is smiling on us this time. Let's see where this leads, yeah?"

That said, she casually strode forward into the passageway, Nora following behind her. The two of them walked for several minutes, the singular passage guiding them through a winding series of halls, before leading to a set of stairs. Kaiten glanced back at her companion for a moment, before shrugging, and started climbing up those stairs.

After ascending several stories, they finally reached a small room, a bedroom to be precise. A luxurious one at that, given the extravagant bed that took up much of the room. Besides that, there was more mundane furniture: a nightstand, a dresser, what seemed to be a closet. And...most curiously, a glass sliding door that seemed to lead out onto a balcony.

Kaiten couldn't help but whistle as she stared at the bed. "Pretty catchy digs here...maybe this is Dios' room? We've yet to find where they're staying in this castle."

"Well, it sure looks like the room of someone important," Nora mused, sitting on the bed and sighing. "Wow, this is really comfy! I think we actually found a good place to camp out!" She smiled, clearly relaxing. "Hm, I wonder what's out on the balcony?"

"That's a good question..." Kaiten mused, before going over to the sliding door. She opened it up, stepped out onto the balcony, and peered outside. She remained silent for a good minute, before speaking up.

"Uh...Nora? I think you're gonna wanna see this..."

When Nora came out to join her...she'd see what Kaiten saw: a sea of undead. Down below, the castle grounds were packed with zombies. A virtual army of the undead swarmed the grounds, funneling together as they surged into the broken castle doors. It was impossible to tell how many of them there were: but it was clear there were enough to easily overwhelm all of them, given enough time.

"Oh God..." She whispered, her eyes bulging in shock. "They... they can't climb up walls, right? If so, we should be fine... right?" She asked desperately, as if wanting Kaiten to tell her everything would be fine.

Kaiten remained silent, however. She stared down at the horde long and hard, as if weighing something in her mind. Then, after a moment, she smiled. "Yeah...it'll be just fine. In fact, I have a pretty good idea of how we'll get out of this. Don't you worry!"

"Really? Oh, thank goodness!" Nora sighed in relief, clutching a hand over her chest. "For what its worth, I'm glad we got stuck together, Kaiten!" She added, giving her an honest, genuine smile.

"Heh," Kaiten grinned wider, and shook her head. Turning around to face Nora, she proclaimed, "You know, you really do remind me of my friend a lot. Both sweet, kind, happy-go-lucky girls. It's amazing how similar you are. In fact...you're just as trusting and naïve as Hachi was."

With that said, Kaiten's smile darkened, and she launched into action. Before Nora could react, she rushed over, shoving Nora roughly against the railing of the balcony. Then, with her superior strength, she found it all too easy to force the girl up and over the railing.

Time seemed to slow down for Nora as she plummeted to the sea of undead below. Her eyes, widening in horror, stared up at Kaiten as she fell further and further away. In fact, Kaiten's mocking smile would be the last thing Nora ever saw, as seconds later, she crashed into the mob of zombies. She barely had time to register the pain of her fall before they were upon her like a pack of starving wolves.

Nora's agonized screams were drowned out by the raucous screech of the undead as they tore into her. Flesh was stripped from her bones, her body was bitten into several dozen times over, and her entrails were ripped out of her stomach. Her limbs were pulled out of their sockets, her body slowly and painfully devoured by the horde. And Nora was conscious for every moment of it, screaming and screaming and screaming and screaming until finally, her head was torn off from her torso.

Nora Kelly, the Epitome Beekeeper, was dead.

* * *

Yumei trailed behind Naoki cautiously, her and Kogo bringing up the rear for their group while the honorary Ultimate Archer led them forward. After being separated from Doctor Tanaka and fleeing from the armory, they'd managed to fight their way downstairs, and fled down one of the few paths apparently free from the undead menace: the dungeons.

So they'd escaped into the lower levels of the castle...and thankfully, the horde had noticeably thinned down here. So far they'd only encountered a few stragglers...but at the same time, navigating the dungeons themselves was difficult. The light of the torches lining the walls was the only thing that illuminated the lower levels, plus the dungeons seemed almost labyrinthian at times. In fact, Yumei was fairly certain they'd somehow circled around several times now down here...

But, finally, their group found a new branching path. And after traveling down that path for a few minutes, they almost stumbled into a group coming down the opposite way.

"Woah!" Naoki reared back after he nearly ran into Kaizoku and his group, the older man briefly surprised. He grinned in a relieved manner after a few minutes, however, happy to see his friend. "Kaizoku! I'm glad to see you're all right. I see you had the same idea in fleeing down here, huh?"

"Aye, though we only have so many options before us," the Sailor replied, running a hand through his beard.

"Are you all doing okay?" Kogo asked, looking over to the other two. "We haven't seen anyone else in a while now."

"I'm doing fine, dear. I know it hasn't been long but I'm definitely starting to feel fatigued." Kotomi said, a tired look on her face. "Thankfully, it seem there aren't many of them here, if only we could get out of these dungeons,"

"I highly doubt we'll be able to get out so easily, this place is like a maze. Reminds me of the subway system in my favorite game. It's almost impossible to navigate it without the proper equipment. However, now that we are together we'll stand a better chance. Strength in numbers, as they say," Natalya said, trying to sound reassuring. "Still, we should watch you, these things can overpower you in an instant, the last thing anyone wants is to become one of them,"

"That assumes, of course, that a bite can still turn you into one of them like in popular fiction..." Yumei mused, before shrugging slightly. "It's hard to say for sure without concrete evidence."

"Well, let's hope we don't have to find out," Naoki sighed, shaking his head. "Anyway, Natalya's right! We should be safer and stronger together! Although...you were coming from the direction we were traveling down, right? I suppose that means an exit or safe room isn't down that way..."

"There was another path a little ways back. Perhaps we should double back and go down that way," the Monk suggested.

"That would be a wise choice. Exploring the entire map may yield in an exit, of course this could be some type of mystery dungeon. A place whose map changes every time it is explored, so an exit may just be out of reach,"

"Natalya, this isn't a video game, this is real life! Stop treating it as such and take it seriously!"

"But I am. If magic is real, and the undead are real, then certainly mystery dungeons are real as well, I am merely exploring every avenue of thought possible. I may be a nuclear physicist, but I am very skilled in problem solving and puzzles. What lies ahead of us may in fact be a puzzle created by the Masterminds of this game. In which case, we must be ready for anything," the little girl said, a firm look on her face. "I would get with the program if I were you, the unfriendly ones are usually the ones that die first,"

Kaizoku sighed looking between the girls. "Alright lasses, why don't we stow the argument for now. You lot lead the way, sure we got no time to lose."

Naoki nodded, and turned around to lead the way back. Everyone else fell into line soon enough, the dim light of the torches illuminating their path.

The group traveled in a tense silence for several minutes, their footsteps echoing loudly through the otherwise silent corridor. Indeed, it took Yumei almost a minute to noticing the sound of someone else approaching their group.

Just as she did, the creature stalking toward them was revealed by torchlight up ahead. Unsurprisingly, it was one of the undead: this particular one seemed to be a nondescript looking Japanese man in a business suit. What did surprise her, however, was the fact that the undead began to speak.

"You..." the zombie hissed in hatred, its decayed, empty eye sockets staring straight at Kogo. "You killed me! I died because of you!"

The paramount charm was bewildered as she stared at the zombie. Her mind stalled for a moment until she noticed the man's chest was caved in. "You... the car," Kogo muttered as tears started to sing at her eyes.

"Murderer!" the undead snarled, staggering closer to their group. "That car hit me because of you! You goddamn-!"

Naoki loosed an arrow just then, striking the creature directly in its head. The bolt pierced its brain, and seconds later the zombie crumpled to the ground, dead for good.

"...Don't let it get to you, Kogo. This is merely Dios trying to mess with our heads," Yumei comforted her after a moment, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Just like he did with Fuka and I earlier. Whatever happened, Dios is just trying to use it to break your spirit."

"She's right dear, pay them no mind. We shall get out of here soon, I'm certain this little game of there's will lose steam and they'll grow bored. Still, resorting to psychological warfare like this... What sick bastards they are," Kotomi said, her voice laced with anger. "Nothing would make me happier than bashing their brains in, instead!"

Kogo swallowed as she still looked down at the man. "I-I think the only way Dios is ending this is when they get a death..."

"Nah lass, I'm sure we can weather this storm. All we can do is try," Kaizoku added.

"Indeed. We have little other choice but to try and persevere," Yumei agreed with a nod.

Naoki, meanwhile, looked vaguely troubled as he stared at the corpse, but said nothing further as he walked forward to retrieve his arrow. After that, the group started moving forward again, until they reached the fork once more. This time, they started heading down the direction of the right path.

"...I don't think I'm the only one who's noticed that a good deal of the undead have a connection to many of us," Yumei spoke up after a moment, a troubled look on her face. "One of the undead was someone Fuka knew...and as we saw, another zombie was someone connected to Kogo. And earlier, I noticed many of the horde was Chinese...no doubt victims of my own from my time in China..."

"So that's their play... the undead they're sending at us are all linked to our past. Victims from previous killing games, people that former blackened have killed... I wouldn't put it past them to start sending kids at us. I lost quite a few friends in my game," Natalya said, looking down at her feet. "How terrible, the dead should rest in peace, not suffer in limbo. Even if they're machinations brought to life by Dios' power."

"Aye, I already saw me father earlier. It took a second to recognize 'im, but since he was so charred up..." Kaizoku muttered rubbing is burnt left forearm.

"Zoku..." Kogo said as she turned and hugged the Sailor briefly.

"...Dios really knows no bounds here," Naoki sighed, shaking his head. "I suppose I'm lucky I haven't seen my wife yet. Although...well, with what I've seen already, perhaps Dios knows there's no point..."

Before much else could be said, however, they came upon the abrupt end of the path: as it turned out, this direction came to a close with a dead end. A brick wall blocked their path forward, ending any chance of exploring further.

"It seems like we'll have to turn around and go in a different direction..." Yumei sighed. Before she could dwell too long on the subject, though, the sounds of several creatures marching towards them reached her ears.

_"Sacrifice!"_ the lead undead moaned as it stepped into the torchlight. Behind it, at least a dozen more creatures followed, blocking the path back.

"Jesus Christ!" Kotomi cried fearfully, as the undead swiftly approached them. "Where the fuck did they come from?"

"It doesn't matter, we need to deal with them before we all succumb to them!" the nuclear physicist said, frowning. "I wish I was a little older, if I was I could be more useful! I feel like a liability right now,"

"I don't know, I'm a bit older than you and I'm not feeling much better," Kogo replied holding tightly to Yumei's arm.

Yumei scowled at the surging cluster, her free hand tightening into a fist. Still, she wasn't exactly at her best at the moment: her pregnancy had severely hampered her fighting prowess. And she didn't want to do anything to endanger her babies...

Naoki, as if sensing her hesitation, stepped forward in front of the group. He held his bow calmly, and started knocking arrows. "Everyone...I'll hold them off as best I can. If I run out of arrows before I can take them all out...then I'll charge at them and distract them. Feel free to leave me behind while I've got them busy."

Kaizoku pulled a wrench out of his bag as he moved beside Naoki. "Can't do that, Gramps. It be practically me whole job to help you out."

"Indeed. We didn't agree to abandon you before, and we won't do it now!" Yumei agreed. "This will be a tough fight...but we've got to stick together. It's our only chance of survival."

"No. You don't understand," Naoki ground out, a trace of anger seeping into his tone. "This...I don't deserve to be saved. I'm old, and the things I'm done...if I can buy you youngsters some time to escape, then let me do it! This...this is the only way I can repent-!"

Before Naoki could finish speaking, however, the zombies all suddenly jerked and froze in place. Then, like a puppet with its strings cut off, they all started collapsing to the floor. Several seconds of tense silence followed, but the creatures made no sounds, or any movements that they were even still alive.

"What the fuck?"

"Hey kid, maybe you shouldn't speak like that, it's unbecoming of a young lady," Kotomi said, scolding the little girl. "Still, it is an apt way of expressing what just happened. It's as if they ceased movement... Did what Gramps say cause them to fall over like this?"

Kaizoku grimaced as he looked over the bodies. "No lass, but if what my gut tells me is true, I wish that was it. Because it looks like the motive is over..."

It seemed Kaizoku's observation was spot on, as Dios' voice rang through the area a moment later. Still using that strange mixture of feminine and masculine tones, the Mastermind proclaimed, _"The sacrifice has been made: the motive is now at an end. For those who are still yet living, you may all crawl out of your hiding holes, and rest. But don't fret...for your rehabilitation resumes tomorrow."_

"A sacrifice?" Yumei noted with furrowed brows. "I don't like the sound of that. We need to reunite with the others, and take stock of what happened."

"Yes..." Naoki glanced at the now unmoving corpses, and frowned. "That would be for the best. Let us move posthaste!"

That said, they made their way past the corpses, and deeper into the dungeon itself. With the threat of the undead now over, they would hopefully find an exit out of here, and returned to the others soon. Or at least, those who had survived the siege...

* * *

By the time Yumei and her group had made it out of the dungeons, the others had already congregated in the foyer of the castle. The floor was swamped with the bodies of the now completely dead zombies, making it hard to move around freely...but, they managed.

Of more pressing concern was the fact that soon enough, it became clear that not everyone was present among them.

"Tina's dead," Fuka solemnly reported, a forlorn expression on her face. Besides her, Pietro carried the seemingly unconscious body of Trixie. "One of the zombies got at her before we could stop them."

Yumei grimaced at that, none too pleased with that revelation. Though if Tina was the only one who had succumbed to the undead, then quite honestly, they had all gotten off fairly lightly. Although…

"Where's Nora?" Naoki voiced the question for her, peering around as he searched for the beekeeper. "I don't see her anywhere over here. Did she also…?"

Before anyone could respond, however, the mocking voice of Dios answered him instead.

"I am afraid Nora is no longer among us," they proclaimed. "But her death was not in vain...for it ultimately saved you all."

"What...what in tarnation?!" Jackie spoke up from among the crowd, and angrily pointed her pistol at Dios. "What's that supposed to mean?! What the hell did you do to her?!"

"I did nothing to her whatsoever," Dios retorted, shaking their head. "In fact, you know just what happened to her...don't you, Kaiten?"

All attention focused on the High Roller, as Dios passed the buck onto her. For her part, Kaiten looked briefly taken aback. After a few seconds, however, she sighed and nodded her head.

"I do. Nora, she…" Kaiten trailed off, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "I...I wasn't sure if I should say anything, but...well, I guess there's no escaping it now. Nora...she killed herself."

Yumei let out a gasp of shock, as similar noises of confusion and horror rippled through the group. Almost everyone seemed too stunned to say anything to that.

When no one else spoke up, Kaiten decided to elaborate. "I know it seems hard to believe, but...I saw it with my own two eyes. We had...found this hidden door in the kitchen, and climbed up a set of stairs. It led up to some sort of bedroom with a balcony. And on that balcony...there must have been thousands of them out there. Maybe hundreds of thousands. They just swamped the castle grounds, pushing against each other as they struggled to get inside. Seeing that many of them...I think it just broke Nora's spirit. She...she fell into despair. I tried to stop her, I really did, but...she jumped before I could grab her."

"It's true. I was...with them when it all went down," Takeji stated with a grimace. Kaiten glanced over at him briefly, but the Survivalist went on. "We all got separated at some point...but I managed to join back together with Nora and Kaiten. We found that room together. And...shit, I guess it was just too much for Nora to handle. I guess...she lost any hope of making it out of this game alive. Such a damn waste…"

"Nora…" Jackie whispered to herself, and wiped a tear from her eye. "Damn it all. I should have been there too. If we hadn't gotten separated, then maybe…"

"Hey, don't blame yourself for what happened," Kaiten soothed, reaching over to pat her shoulder. "If anything, I'm to blame. I...should have been there more for Nora. If I'd been faster, or if I'd said something…"

"None of us can be blamed for what happened. We all did the best we could," Fuka offered up. "I think...the best we can do now is to try and live on, in memory of Tina and Nora. Make sure that their deaths were not in vain."

"Still...there's something I don't understand. You said Nora's death saved us all? How?" Lumi brought up, staring hard over at Dios.

The Mastermind chuckled in response. "As a result of her death, she became a sacrifice for the undead. And that was what they wanted: a sacrifice. Their bloodlust would only have been satiated with the sacrifice of a life. So in her despair, Nora's death also paved the way for your salvation."

"A sacrifice…" Naoki murmured to himself. "The poor girl. She had so much to live for. If only…"

An uncomfortable silence stretched across the group, as they all came to terms with what had happened. For her own part, Yumei whispered a brief prayer in honor of Tina and Nora. Wherever they were now, she could only hope that they were at peace.

"Regardless, the motive is complete. You are all now welcome to go rest your weary souls. You'll need all the strength you can get for the journey that lies ahead," Dios announced. "Tomorrow, the next portion of your rehabilitation begins."

That said, Dios walked off, leaving them all to come to terms with what had happened, and what might lay ahead.


	12. Revenants of the Past 1-5 END

It was a quiet walk back to their dorm… though given everything that had happened over the evening, it was understandable. Trixie hadn't said much since she had woken back up, and Lumi and Pietro hadn't prodded her too much before they decided to retire for the night. So it was in relative silence that the trio had retired back to their room.

Upon getting inside, Trixie made a beeline for her bed, and flopped down on it, a tired, almost haggard expression on her face. Pietro looked similarly stressed as he sat down on his own bed, the Chef sighing as he leaned back. "Well, this has been quite the night, hasn't it?"

"The rhetorical nature of your question is acknowledged," Lumi intoned dispassionately as she took a seat of her own, though on a hard chair rather than anything fluffy. The woman had been scribbling in her notebook incessantly since their return trip, and only took a glance at the brooding Trixie before continuing whatever works she had brewing.

Pietro glanced over at Luminisa briefly, before nodding to himself. "Well… I suppose it always could have been worse. Casualties were kept to a minimum, and of those we lost...well, it seems there was little we could have done to prevent their deaths."

Trixie glanced over sharply at Pietro. "Tina died because of me."

"Is that so?" Pietro questioned, giving a shrug. "It was rather convenient she ran out of ammo when she did, wasn't it? Very convenient, in fact. But… well, maybe I'm wrong."

Frowning, Lumi tucked her pen behind an ear and then doffed her hat so that it hung off the chair. Free to breathe in the tepid mood, her hair, gossamer-light, and feather-soft danced in the air as she threw her neck back.

"You were supposed to protect everyone, Pietro." Lumi's frown deepened. "I, for one, did my part in protecting Mr. Kanaka and little Nana. Do not tell me that you didn't even try. And for that matter, I'd have even more reason to be miffed if you decided there just _had_ to be a sacrifice."

"I'm not that callous, Lumi...at least, I don't think so. And believe me...Fuka and I did our best," Pietro replied, frowning slightly. "But events...conspired against us. Suddenly there was an undead where there had been none before...I should know, as I thoroughly scoped out the room, and the adjourning back office, while we were cooped up in there. And then Tina just _happened_ to run out of ammo just as that child zombie lurched for Trixie. Giving her no choice but to dash forward and attack it bare-handed..."

"There were other inconsistencies as well, weren't there?" he went on, his hand stroking the scraggly strands of his beard. "Those zombies seemed pretty fast when they were chasing us all around...but at other times, they seemed pretty slow. And from what I heard...some had their chosen safe havens invaded and were forced to flee...while others remained virtually untouched for the entire motive. How… curious."

"...What are you getting at?" Trixie finally asked, a skeptical look on her face.

"I think... those undead were being controlled from the very beginning. In fact...I daresay that Dios had his victims picked out long before the motive began," the one-armed Chef proclaimed. "There are too many inconsistencies and odd events to say that everything happened organically. The entire motive played out _exactly_ as Dios wanted it to."

"...I don't doubt it," Lumi responded after a pause. "I'd even reason it's the natural conclusion to arrive at—yes, and of the most cringe-worthy sort because our captors think of themselves as clowns when, in fact, they lack even the barest modicum of comedic talent."

This time, Lumi uncoiled her scarf with a whip-like flick of her wrist. She then clucked her tongue. "Tsk, tsk...and though your inner child surely wishes to frolic in your epiphanies, it is much too late for heated whispers of conspiracy. I am not nonplussed you have no clue, oh boorish Pietro, but ladies such as dear Trixie and myself value our nights."

Pietro raised an eyebrow but nodded after a moment. "A fair point. It _is_ late, and we are all no doubt tired. We can speak of this another time."

"Yeah...probably for the best. You can go ahead and get changed first, Lumi," Trixie offered, gesturing to the bathroom. "I don't feel like getting up yet."

By the time the girl had asked, Lumi was already in the middle of sliding off her unicorn-patterned stockings. The dark cotton sheathe was rolled down with sensual slowness, uncovering acres of snowy skin. The very act of removing her legwear took several seconds on account of its sheer length, though the eroticism itself seemed unintentional as Lumi's eyes were zeroed in on her open notebook with scholastic focus.

"Hmm? Why, oh why, would I use the washroom to change? Clearly the doffing of cloth is the domain of bedchambers."

Trixie flushed, her cheeks tinged red as she quickly looked away from the novelist. Crossing her arms, she huffed out, "W-Well, if you wanna give Pietro a show too, go ahead. It doesn't matter to me at all..."

Caramel eyes were rolled in their sockets. The delightfully leggy lady scoffed in Pietro's direction. "I'd have to charge in that case… and we all know that chefs are but a single dish away from the poorhouse. How disheartening! Very well, away with me to the latrine it is!" She stood, gathered her things and toiletries, then entered the bathroom and could faintly be heard fussing about.

Pietro idly watched Luminisa leave, and was content to wait for her return until a sudden, nauseating pain jolted through his body. He gave a pained grunt and looked down at his lap...to see Trixie had suddenly appeared before him, and now had his crotch in a vice-grip.

"You don't talk about my game. I don't care what you know about it or what you think, you _don't_ talk about it. And don't ask me any questions about it… understand? If you break that promise, I will not hesitate to make you a eunuch," Trixie hissed, squeezing his testicles for emphasis.

Pietro grit his teeth and nodded hurriedly. "Y-Yes… I think… that's a suitable arrangement..."

Trixie stared up at him in response, measuring his expression, before she finally let go. Pietro gave a relieved sigh as she returned to her bed.

"...You could have just asked politely, you know," he pointed out after a moment, wincing with pain.

"Just be lucky I didn't charge you. Normally guys would have to pay me to fondle their balls," Trixie dismissively replied, rolling her eyes.

At that most inopportune of moments, the door was flung open. Lumi stepped out in all her towering glory, wearing not the anticipated, nosebleed-inducing lingerie, but instead a set of full-body pajamas complete with a comfy unicorn hood. Suffice to say, though the woman looked gorgeous in just about any attire imaginable, her choice of sleepwear remained excruciatingly tacky.

She struck a pose that somewhat resembled a prancing pony. Her expression was smug.

Trixie regarded Lumi with a blank expression before her lips twitched into a smirk. Resisting the urge to laugh, she couldn't help but ask, "Seriously?"

Pietro, for his part, shook his head in clear amusement. "I see you haven't changed at all, Lumi."

"Hmm? Where is all the ensuing praise and applause? Have I not, at this very moment, acquired the empyrean heights of fashion that had been sought since the dawn of woven fabric?" Lumi's posture slightly sagged. There was confusion etched into her features, though whether that itself was fabricated or not, remained a mystery for the ages.

* * *

After Dios' parting words, Kaiten found herself going back outside, wading through the sea of still corpses that now filled the outer grounds of the castle courtyard. Her eyes searched keenly through the dead, looking for something in particular when she heard someone approaching her from behind.

She glanced back, smirking as she saw Takeji. "Takeji! Fancy seeing you out here. I was gonna come find you after I finished up out here, actually. I thought I may as well express my thanks, for how you backed me up. I honestly wasn't expecting it."

"Well, sometimes each day can just be full of surprises!" The boy responded, catching up to the girl. "Though, I do have to wonder what the actual truth is now, yeah?"

"The real truth, huh?" Kaiten mused, her lips parting to reveal her fanged grin. "Well, Nora _did_ jump off of that balcony, you know. That much is true. But maybe she _did_ have some help getting off… but who can say, really?"

"That _does_ sound unfortunate..." Takeji hummed, gently stacking some of the zombie corpses upon one another, and ultimately taking a seat on them. "Well, I'm sure you do miss her dearly. I have to say, I'm actually kinda impressed..." He admitted.

"Oh? Impressed with what, exactly?" Kaiten inquired, her eyebrow raised in intrigue. She continued her scan of the corpses around them, though she made sure to keep the Survivalist in her field of view.

"Well, just impressed that there is somebody else who realizes that sometimes, you gotta do whatever it takes to survive." He answered, a small smile on his face. "It's actually kinda refreshing."

"Is that so? Well, glad to see there's someone else here who ain't afraid to do what they gotta do," Kaiten replied. She cut herself short, though, as her eyes fixated on something in particular. She grinned to herself, and reached down, plucking a bloodied charm bracelet from the ground.

"There we go!" Kaiten nodded to herself and slipped the bracelet into her pocket. "That'll be a nice trinket to remember Nora by."

"Aw, how sweet!" Takeji joked, jumping off his makeshift throne. "You know, I bet we could do some great things together, you and I. We'd make quite the pair." He added suggestively, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Hm, are you suggesting we partner up then?" Kaiten questioned, giving a small chuckle. "Well...you _are_ one of the only smart people here… and you _did_ back me up when you didn't have to. So...yeah, sure, why not? Between the two of us, I think we'll be able to win this game handily!"

Kaiten smiled aggressively, a dark gleam in her eyes as she considered the future. "And I _am_ here to win, at the end of the day. I don't care who I have to kill in order to beat the odds...at the end of the day, it's all about winning. And having fun while I'm at it. And if these idiots are anything like the guys from my first game… well, I think we should be able to clean house pretty well, don't you?"

"Indeed! Survival of the fittest, after all." The Survivalist agreed, appraising Kaiten for a few seconds before stepping forward. "However, just remember one thing..."

As quick as lightning, Takeji pulled out a small pocket knife and pointed it against an unflinching Kaiten's throat gently. "...a word of warning, don't try to double-cross me. I think you'll find I won't be as easy to kill as all your past _friends_."

Kaiten stared down at Takeji's knife, a hint of amusement in her eyes as she gave a languid nod. "Yeah, yeah. I get it, Mister Tough Guy. Don't worry… I'm not that much of an idiot, that I'd double-cross you. Besides, we both got bigger fish to fry long before we have to worry about that."

Takeji quietly lowered his knife, sliding it away. "Just wanted to give you a warning, that's all. But I am excited, this looks like the beginning of a _beautiful_ partnership."

"Ha, it sure does!" Kaiten jovially agreed. That said, she stretched for a moment, before giving an exaggerated yawn. "Man, all that running around has me tired out. I'm about ready to hit the hay. Guess I'll see you tomorrow, Takeji."

That said, she waved at him, before heading back to the castle.

* * *

It didn't take Kotaro long to slip away from the main group and climb up the stairs toward the bar. It was a somewhat more difficult trek to make than usual, given how many dead bodies he had to step over, but he could manage that.

He wasn't the only one who had had that idea, he found out, once he stepped into the partially destroyed remnants of the bar. Fuka and Auryon were both there as well, already helping themselves to the surviving alcohol stocked behind the broken bar.

"Great minds think alike, huh?" Kotaro mused as he took a seat near the ladies.

Fuka sighed, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes as she took a light sip from her drink. "Something like that. Too much action for a woman like me." She deadpanned, shaking her head.

"Heh, sounds like it. A lot of us had a pretty rough go of it tonight," Kotaro agreed, giving a small, dry chuckle. "I'd say it could have been worse...but I'd probably be lying."

"Eh, I wouldn't say that. Dios really let you guys off easy by letting the motive end without a trial," Santiago explained as he was suddenly standing behind the destroyed counter.

Auryon felt her eyebrows twitch, eyeing Santiago with annoyance. "Yeah, sure, we got off easy. Let's go with that." She mumbled, eyeing her glass wistfully.

Kotaro glanced up at Santiago for a moment, not even bothering with glaring at him. Instead, he held up an empty cup. "Why don't you make yourself useful, and fill me up? That's part of your job duties, yeah?"

The steward smirked as a silvery glow came from his hand and he gently placed the glass on the magically repaired counter. "Of course, sir. What would you like?" As Santiago asked he half turned and swept an arm to gesture to the fully restored drink selection.

"I'll take the hardest whiskey you got," Kotaro decided, after briefly looking over the newly restored drinks. "You ladies want anything? You can put it on my tab… heh. Like that even matters here."

"I'm fine, thank you very much." The Virologist replied, downing the rest of her current drink. "The last thing I need is to not be in my sharpest state of mind at a time like this."

Auryon scoffed, motioning to Santiago to refill her glass. "Screw that. I need to loosen up. Kotaro has the right idea, gimme something strong too."

"Right away," Santiago mused as he poured whiskey into the woman's glass. "I don't blame you. If I had to deal with those zombies I'd be giving Jessica a run for her money in drinking this place dry."

Kotaro just chuckled in reply, taking a deep swig from his glass. He let out a satisfied sigh a moment later. "Heh, I barely need the excuse to drink. I haven't been completely sober since the end of my first killing game. I doubt this is gonna be any different."

"I suppose we all deal with our pasts in different ways." Fuka mused, tracing her finger along the rim of the glass. "In a way, it's almost like this is routine at this point."

Auryon took a long sip from the refilled glass, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "Question is, what do we even do next?"

"Damn good question," Kotaro nodded at Auryon, swishing around his whiskey for a moment before taking another gulp of it. "Way I see it… either we find a way to somehow overthrow Dios, or we just go along with the ride until the endgame, whatever that looks like. I'm not sure we have a lot of other realistic options on the table."

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but how do we hope to overthrow someone who can't be killed." Fuka pointed out. "Then again, we can't go on like this forever."

"That's pretty much the point. You guys keep going on as you had been you'll be dead by the end of the month. You made it through one game sure, but Dios has been studying them so don't expect the same old tricks to work. And the motives will keep pushing you guys to spill blood," Santiago explained with a shrug.

"So damned if we do, damned if we don't?" Kotaro summarized, shaking his head. "Pretty pessimistic options there, I'd say. Well, it's not like I got much to complain about anyway; I'm a dead man walking, for all intents and purposes. I'm gonna be dead in the near future, one way or another..."

He finished up his drink, downing the last of his whiskey in one gulp. After settling the glass back onto the table, he added, "Still… something about this doesn't add up in my head. We've all seen Dios' power...but why are they acting now, of all times? If they really are all mighty and neigh immortal, well, they wouldn't have much trouble with the Future Foundation or anyone else. And why'd they pick us all, in the first place? There's got to be a reason behind that..."

"Well, the obvious reason is that all of us have survived killing games before." The Slayer pointed out, troubled. "Beyond that, I dunno. This game almost seems... symbolic, in a way?"

"Mm, you could say that. Dios is definitely playing at some larger game here… but we don't know enough to even guess at what," Kotaro sighed. He glanced up at Santiago, rolling his eyes even as he couldn't help but ask, "Guess you don't have any insight for us there, huh? You wouldn't exactly be a good accomplice if you gave up all of your boss's plans..."

"I get that you guys just had a rough time but did you forget what we told you when we first showed up?" Santiago said as he held up a familiar skull mask. "I am Dios. All of the staff here are. They're a Dungeon Master, so they made some npcs for this little game."

"Uh-huh. That's cute, you're just like a child." Auryon sighed, shaking her head. "Dios and his lackeys certainly like their games."

"Right, right. The 'we are Legion' thing. Sorta escaped my mind," Kotaro shrugged dismissively, waving off Santiago's reminder. A moment later the Maestro got up from his chair and stretched out his back.

"Well… I think I've had enough for one night. I'm gonna be heading to bed now," he decided. "Hope you ladies have a good night. I'd drink more, but...well, I'm not in the mood to really get hammered right now."

Fuka cast a worried glance at Kotaro frowning. "Don't overexert yourself. You need some sleep if you're going to be able to keep up. And no, I'm not saying that in jest..." she quickly added.

"You need to chill, doc. Not the time to get all worried about everyone else. He can handle himself." Auryon retorted.

"It's exactly what the Slayer chick says, doc. I can take care of myself just fine. Especially with the motive over and all," Kotaro was quick to reassure.

That said, he waved them off, walking out of the still broken door and down the hall toward his dorm room. Halfway there, however, he came to an abrupt pause. After making sure no one was around, Kotaro got out a cigarette, lit it, and drew out a long puff.

"Dios, I know you're listening. Come over here: we need to talk."

Silvery mist poured into the hallway as Dios took form, swirling a glass of whiskey in their hand. "Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney how you doing, Smokey?"

Kotaro's lips twitched into a brief scowl, and he took another long drag from his cigarette. "Enough of your little games, asshole. I'm gonna cut to the chase. Games like this... they tend to follow a pattern. Mastermind, victims, Blackened, survivors, and… traitors. Collaborators. Spies. Call 'em whatever you want, but almost always, in these sorts of games… there's always a man on the inside. Someone who reports to the Mastermind keeps them in the loop about what the group is doing. After all, security cameras and hidden microphones can only go so far. You gotta have someone with their eyes and ears trained to catch every little thing your subjects might be planning."

He paused, before taking another puff and blowing out a ring of smoke. "Leave Lumi, Pietro, Yumei, Trixie, Nana, and Natalya alone. I'm not gonna fail my students again, no matter what... and I don't want to have the blood of a pair of kids, Lumi's friends, or a pregnant mother on my hands. As for the others... fuck 'em. I don't know them, and I don't care to. None of them matter to me as much as my students. And in exchange..."

He finished off his cigarette, and flicked the bud to the ground, stomping it to completely put it out. "I'll do whatever you want, Dios. I'll be your inside man. Agree to my deal, and I'll gladly sell everyone else in this stupid fucking game up the river."

Dios stood quietly for a moment as they stared at the Maestro and sighed. "Lot to unpack there, Koko. Frankly, it leaves me with a lot of questions. Now you may think you have a point but ask yourself; What cameras? What microphones? What kind of weak mortal do you think you're dealing with?"

Dios stepped close and ripped their mask away, revealing Kotaro's own face looking back at him. Dios smiled darkly as they placed the glass into the other man's hand. "Using your own logic who says I don't already have a dog in this race? So just what exactly can you offer me that I don't already have?"

"Well… a game this size, it can never hurt to have too many spies. You can't expect just one person to keep an eye on everyone all the time, can you? Besides that... cliques form and alliances are made. No telling if your inside man would be able to get so close with absolutely everyone. Me, on the other hand... I'm the broken down, drunk teacher. No one expects me of any wrongdoing. I'm someone they'll look at with pity instead of suspicion. They're more liable to think I'm gonna die of cancer before I become a Blackened...which might actually be true, but that's beside the point. Not to mention, Lumi's the closest thing we got to a detective here...and she trusts me completely. I don't care if she hates me at the end of this...as long as she's alive, I don't have any regrets about informing on her or any of the others. Not to mention..."

He smiled, looking into the face of his doppelgänger with a haunted, broken gaze. "I ain't got nothin' to lose, Dios. If this game doesn't kill me, my cancer will. The only thing I wanna do is protect my students… even if it means becoming the very thing I hate. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure they make it out of this game alive."

"Mr. Kanaka, I understand your worry but this isn't what we want to see, you making some Faustian bargain for us," Lumi announced as she walked towards the pair. She placed a hand on her hip as she looked disappointedly at Kotaro.

"Lumi?" Kotaro looked genuinely surprised, a shameful expression crossing his face before he looked away from his student. "This ain't any of your business, kid. I'm just doing what I have to to make sure you guys make it out alive."

"I see..." the Novelist said as she walked up to the man and reached down to place her hands on his shoulders. She gently worked a small massage, all the while never looking away from him. Her cheeks were quickly starting to heat up as she stepped even closer towards her former teacher. "When you told me about your diagnosis I was shocked. That you only had such a short time left means I can't wait on these feelings."

One of Lumi's large hand slowly traced down man's chest and stomach before her fingers began wrapping around his belt. "I'm tired of hiding this, Kotaro, can't you see I'm not a little girl anymore?! I want you to make a real woman out of me!" After she almost shouted this she leaned down and smashed her lips against his.

Kotaro froze in shock, eyes wide in disbelief. He hastily shoved Lumi off of him and backed up, his mind awhirl with uncertainty. "Lumi! What… what on earth are you talking about? I don't… this isn't..."

"This isn't what? Is this not what you're into? Oh my mistake, I guess you need them younger, huh?" A wicked cackle escaped the Novelist as she slowly shrunk down and her face softens and rounded. Her clothing changed as well becoming the school uniform that Kotaro had first met her wearing, the top few buttons of the shirt opened o give a view at her moderate-sized chest. The younger Luminisa stood much closer to the Maestro's eye line and leaned in close again. "Does this work for you, Mr. Kanaka? This get you in the mood?"

Kotaro's face stilled before a furious expression overtook his features. He turned back to glare at Dios, rage lighting up his eyes as he snarled, "Fuck you, Dios!"

That said, he moved to walk away, not wanting to give Dios or the fake Luminisa any more attention as he tried to leave.

Down the hallway he was headed however he saw another doppelganger of himself leaning against a wall, drawing on his cigarette. "Alright calm down, asshole. Maybe learn to take it easy, yeah? This is nearly the end of your life, whether you get out of this game or not. Look, I get you think you had something to offer me, but let me ask you something. What makes you think I need help looking over this group? Maybe the group isn't as big as you think it is," the fake Kotaro said as he walked past the real one. Once he had joined up with the other two they all dissipated into mist.

Kotaro glanced back at where the fakes and Dios had been for a moment, his brow furrowed in consideration at his words. After a moment, though, he resumed his walk. His angry stomps echoed through the corridor, only stopping when he reached his room, and entered inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

With the end of the motive came the end of her adrenaline rush...and because of that, Yumei was hit with a wave of exhaustion. It didn't take her long at all to disengage from the others still in the foyer, and with Kogo's help, she soon made her way back to their dorm room. It had been a little slow going, with how many corpses they'd had to step around...but still, they'd gotten there all the same.

"Thank you, Kogo. I truly appreciate it," Yumei said, gently taking a seat on her bed. She sighed and rested a hand on her swollen stomach. "Between running around all night and carrying my twins, I feel utterly exhausted."

"I barely kept up on my own. I couldn't imagine doing it pregnant, I'm glad you made it through safely," Kogo said as she stood beside the Monk.

"Well, you have my thanks. As I said, I do appreciate it. You've been a big help for me since we arrived here," Yumei declared, giving Kogo a gentle smile. That said, she patted the space next to her on the bed. "You're welcome to take a seat with me. I have a feeling we could both use the rest after...everything that happened."

"Oh right, I wasn't sure if you would want some privacy or not," the Charm explained as she sheepishly sat down beside the other girl. "And you don't have to thank me so much. I'm just glad I can be of any help, really."

Yumei nodded and fell silent for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. Afterward, she said, "Do you...want to talk about it? What we saw while we were in the dungeons. It... can't have been pleasant, seeing that man."

"You mean Mr. Higeki? He's was complete stranger that got killed because of me," Kogo started to explain before giving a small sigh. "He's also not the only one it's happened to. And it's all thanks to my 'talent'..."

"...How so?" Yumei couldn't help but ask, an eyebrow raised. "I remember you talking about how your talent can bring you misfortune, but it can do so to others as well...?"

The indigo haired girl nodded before looking up at the other girl. "Well yeah. It's kind of hard to figure out what it's going to do, except that usually, one person suffers while others around them get good luck. And when it's not me who suffers it's usually pretty deadly. So I feel like I'm stuck with something I can't control all the time and at any point, it could hurt me or someone around me.'

Yumei tensed suddenly, breathing in harshly as she listened to Kogo's explanation. After a few moments, she gave a terse nod and heaved a low sigh. "I… know all too well how that feels. I... have a demon, of sorts, living inside of me. I call her the Dragon. She was… born in the aftermath of the massacre of my monastery. She is...the opposite of me in many ways. Bloodthirsty, uncaring of others, and above all else, cruel and vindictive. I… have killed a great many people as the Dragon, I am ashamed to say. And… I hurt the person I loved the most the last time I gave into the Dragon. Tonbe… the father of my children... he is dead because of me."

Kogo felt herself freeze as Yumei's words bounced around her had. The smaller girl took the pregnant girl's and gave it a small squeeze. "I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Yumei. Having to hold all that on your shoulders and listen to me complain about some bad luck... You're so much stronger than me."

"Heh, I'm not as strong as you think. Sometimes it's a miracle that I'm holding it all together like I am. If it weren't for my babies… well, I'm not sure I'd be handling things as well as I have been," Yumei denied, a bitter smile gracing her lips. "And you shouldn't discount yourself, Kogo. You're strong in your own way. We've both faced our own struggles in the past… but we're still both here, aren't we? It takes a certain kind of inner strength to handle such things, as I've found."

"I suppose you're right, but so far it only has us both ending up in another killing game. But if we're both used to dealing with scary things out of our control maybe we can help each other through this," Kogo said, giving a small smile. "Besides even if I'm scared I can't just sit by as people around me suffer. Especially since it could all be my fault thanks to my luck."

"I couldn't agree more," Yumei replied, squeezing Kogo's hand as they sat there. "Part of my monastery's creed was to help those in need and alleviate the suffering of others. If I can help do that in any way for anyone here...then being in such a horrid game again would be worth it."

That said, Yumei paused and gave a small yawn a moment later. "My apologies… I really am quite tired. I think I'd like to get ready for bed if you don't mind."

"Of course, my legs feel pretty heavy so that sounds good," Kogo replied giving Yumei one last smile. With a yawn of her own, she stood up and made her way towards her own bed.

"Goodnight, Kogo," Yumei said, before getting standing up and moving back the covers of her bed. Too tired to change or take off her clothes, she slipped into bed and soon fell fast asleep...

...

...

It was later in the night when Kogo woke up. At first, she wasn't quite sure what had stirred her to consciousness...but it soon became apparent that she could hear a noise of some sort. A quick glance at Fuka's bed proved the doctor wasn't the cause...but when she glanced over at Yumei...she saw it. The pregnant monk was tossing and turning in her sleep, whimpering as she moved. Perhaps she was having a nightmare of some sort?

The Charm frowned as she climbed out of bed, smoothing down her nightgown as she stood up. She carefully made her way towards the girl and gently tried to shake her shoulder. "Yumei... Hey, are you alrig-"

Kogo was suddenly cut off as, in her sleep, Yumei reached out for her and abruptly pulled the Charm into her bed. Before Kogo realized it, Yumei had wrapped her arms around her stomach, cuddling close to her, and effectively trapping her as a result. At the same time though… Yumei's breathing evened out, and her whimpers died down.

Even though the Monk often claimed she had lost muscle during her pregnancy, Kogo quickly figured out that she wasn't able to free herself from Yumei's hug. _'Well at least she calmed down and she isn't crushing my ribs. I suppose there are worse things that could have happened.'_

* * *

The night passed by with little fanfare, thankfully enough. In fact, the only thing of note to happen to Yumei was the fact that she woke up with Kogo in her bed. Once the Charm had explained the situation, though, she had quickly apologized.

After that, it hadn't taken Dios long to issue out a call to everyone, summoning them back to the foyer. Thus Yumei had found herself traveling there with her roommates. And as soon as everyone showed up… Dios arrived as well.

As a puppet, once again.

Said puppet lasted all of five seconds before Jackie wordlessly took out a pistol, and shot it dead. Ever so slowly, the real Dios rose up from where the puppet had fallen, his arms crossed in dismay.

"_I never get to have any fun with you lot!" _they huffed.

"I think we're all getting tired of your games at this point," Rafael spat out, sneering up at the masked mastermind. "Get to the fucking point already!"

"_Fine, fine! Be that way… guess you guys will never get to see my musical number…" _Dios pouted, sighing to themselves. A moment later they brightened up and clasped their hands together.

"_All right! Well… I think we could all use a change of scenery at this point, ja? Besides, this place is starting to smell a little… corpsey. So! Let's take a trip down memory lane… shall we?"_

The ground started to shake uncontrollably, tossing nearly everyone off of their feet. Cries of dismay and alarm filled the room until the very floor beneath their feet broke apart and started crumbling away: and not just the floor, but the walls, the ceiling… the entire castle was coming apart at the seams, revealing an inky, black void in its place. And that void threatened to swallow them whole, and send them plummeting forever…

However, that was not the case. Once the castle had completely fallen apart, a new setting started to take its place springing up around them.

A courtyard appeared beneath their feet, smooth concrete taking the place of the marble flooring of Castle Greyhawk. Away from the courtyard was a set of stone steps that led up to a majestic looking temple, the walls painted a vibrant red. The temple stretched out before them, daunting and intimidating from its high up position.

For Yumei, however, the temple stirred up a particular mixture of feelings: nostalgia, sorrow, disbelief…

That was because she knew what this place was. And because of that, there was no way on earth this could actually be real.

"Impossible…" Yumei gasped, her lone eye growing wide. She stared unblinkingly at the temple, as if afraid to let it out of her sight.

"What's wrong, Yumei? Do you know this place?" Naoki asked, the taller man already helping her back to her feet.

"Yes… but… this simply cannot be…" Yumei shook her head, her eye tearing up as her body started to shake.

"This is...my old monastery."

"_Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" _Dios' thundering voice boomed across the courtyard mere moments after she said that. "_Welcome to the home of one Yumei Mao… the Shaolin Temple of China! I hope you all enjoy your stay… because this one is going to be a real doozy…"_

* * *

**End Arc 1**

**30 People Remain**


	13. A Trip Down Memory Lane 2-1

Yumei stared up at the Shaolin Temple, her single eye staring up in disbelief at the sight. She was absolutely speechless, unable to convey any thought or emotion at that moment: she was too transfixed by the impossible sight before her.

The last time she'd seen her temple, it had been on fire, the roof on the verge of collapse. Bodies of Chinese soldiers and her fellow monks alike had littered the courtyard, their pink blood painting the ground a ghoulish color. Her fists had been drenched in the blood and viscera of her enemies, her profusely bleeding left eye the only mark of damage upon her body.

Her childhood home had been left in utter ruins when she'd finally killed the last soldier here and fled. But here it was now...not a single scar from that awful night left. It was as if none of that had ever happened.

"How is this possible…?" she breathed at last, her body trembling in her disbelief. "This...the temple was utterly destroyed when I left. But how…?"

"_Don't you know anything about magic? With magic, all sorts of wondrous things are possible!"_

Dios appeared behind her as they answered her question, whistling a jaunty tune like they didn't have a care in the world. They walked in front of her, waiting for a response, but none was forthcoming.

After a pause, Dios extended a hand and slowly waved it back and forth in Yumei's face. She still didn't react.

"_Oops. Looks like I broke her."_

"Would you _kindly_ explain what is going on here?" Naoki sharply remarked, the older man stepping forward to shield the catatonic monk. "What happened to the castle? And why are we here?"

"_You want answers, do you?" _Dios questioned, cocking their head as they stared at him. "_It's very simple. Much as I love Castle Greyhawk, I felt a change of scenery was necessary...so, I brought us here! To a lovely, beautifully crafted recreation of the Shaolin Temple that Yumei Mao once lived at. You're welcome for that, by the way. The things I do for you to keep this game fun and interesting…"_

"A recreation? How…?" George started, before shaking his head. "Wait, that's not the question to ask here. Given all the fantastical things we've witnessed so far, this really shouldn't register at all."

"I'll say," Fuka agreed. She cast a concerned look toward Yumei, biting her lip worriedly. "Well, I suppose we've got nothing better to do but to explore our new surroundings."

"_Well, good luck with that! I'll be in my office if you losers need me. I'll see you all for dinner!" _Dios cheerily proclaimed, before walking up the stairs into the temple.

A moment of silence lingered among the group. They all eyed their new surroundings uneasily, dreading what new horrors they might discover in this hallowed ground…

"Well, there's no time like the present," Kotaro drawled, sighing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Come on, let's split up into groups. We've got a mysterious replica of a destroyed temple to search. Let's hop to it, people."

* * *

Kaiten looked around the dojo with mild interest. It was a simple enough setup, she could see: most of the room was rather bare and sparse, due to the room's nature as a training area. The natural light let in by the high windows of the room didn't illuminate much in the way of interesting features.

In fact, the only thing of note in the room was a large portrait of some old guy in the back: Kaiten had never seen him before, but the old fart looked vaguely familiar.

Truth be told, though, her attention was taken up more by something else entirely. Namely the resident meathead of the group, Takehiko Kioi. The big guy had been in a foul mood since their arrival to this temple, for whatever reason, and since they'd come into this room during their explorations he'd been stewing in his anger.

Thus, Kaiten didn't find herself too surprised when he gave a sudden outburst.

"Dios!" Takehiko thundered with rage, snarling as he suddenly punched a nearby wall. It cracked ever so slightly, but appeared otherwise undamaged. "Show yourself _right now, _you damn coward!"

There was a slight pause, and Dios suddenly appeared right next to Takehiko, as if they'd always been there. "_Hey, what's shakin'—!"_

Takehiko promptly reached over, and crushed Dios' skull like a grape. A shower of blood and gore spattered onto the martial artist, and everyone else for that matter, while Dios' headless corpse flopped down onto the matted floor.

"_Jeez, someone's on a hair trigger today," _Dios complained, a new version of the Mastermind materializing into being. "_What crawled and died up your ass, Kung Fu Panda?"_

"Explain yourself," Takehiko growled, glaring daggers at the masked magician. "Tell me why my _father's dojo _is in this temple!"

Ah, so that was who that old guy was. Whoever his mother was, Takehiko had obviously taken after her in terms of looks. And that was saying something.

"_What, you don't like?" _Dios inquired, their shoulders slumping in disappointment. "_Well, I didn't want to leave you out of this, you know. I figured I'd kill two birds with one Dios, and have two nostalgic reunions for the price of one! Besides, I thought you'd like to revisit the ole stomping grounds."_

Takehiko promptly answered Dios by savagely punching them in the head, cracking Dios' mask and caving in their face as a result.

"You know," Kaiten spoke up, inspecting her nails as a third Dios replaced the last one. "I never thought it'd get boring to see an immortal god-like being getting killed over and over again. But man, this shtick is getting real old real fast."

"I gotta agree," Zetico confessed, the agent eyeing the new Dios with vague interest. After a moment a manic grin spread across his lips. "Hm, maybe we can always make things interestin' in another way. Wanna bet on how long this one lasts?"

"I give him less than two minutes," Kaiten immediately replied.

I'm feeling bold: I think this one's gonna live!" Zetico countered, chuckling in delight. "Loser owes the winner a special favor, no strings attached!"

"Oh?" Kaiten raised an eyebrow, glancing over to the one-eyed man. Now she was intrigued. "Fine, you got yourself a deal, Muffin Man."

"This really isn't a proper thing to be bantering about…" Hapi hesitantly suggested, the angelic teen looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Takehiko, meanwhile, was still staring daggers at the latest copy of Dios. "Mark my words, coward: you _will_ pay for this transgression. No one makes a mockery of the Kioi Dojo and lives to tell the tale."

"_Ooh! I'm so scared!" _Dios mocked, which only angered the Karateka further.

Then, in a particularly smug tone, they said, "_How would your father feel about that, I wonder? He never did approve of your blood thirsty nature, did he?"_

Takehiko's body moved so fast that Kaiten could barely track it: one moment he was still brewing in his own rage, and the next he had pounced upon Dios, beating him savagely into the floor. Dios themself hardly had a chance to resist, and was pounded into submission by Takehiko's sheer strength and savagery.

Once again Dios' mask cracked and fractured under the assault, and the face he saw under the mask immediately stilled Takehiko's next punch. His eyes grew wide, while his body froze in shock.

From where she was standing, Kaiten had a good look at the unmasked Dios, though she wasn't sure what to make out of what she saw. Whatever identity Dios was putting on now she couldn't tell: their face was still obscured, this time by a luchador mask of all things. She could only guess that Takehiko knew _exactly _who that was though, and the reaction it inspired in him only intrigued her further.

"You really haven't learned at all, have you?" Dios spoke in a distinctly feminine tone. They gave a merciless laugh, proclaiming, "Always acting on your damn pride, never stopping once to think of the consequences. How many lives have you ruined with your destructive behavior, Takehiko Kioi? And how many more must suffer and die on your mad quest to become the world's strongest?"

Takehiko's jaw clenched, and after a moment he let out an explosive yell. He punched the floor just beside Dios' head, before abruptly getting to his feet. With a snarl he quickly marched out of the room, his thunderous footsteps echoing long after he'd departed.

"Looks like I win!" Zetico declared with a large smirk. Wriggling his eyebrows suggestively he added, "I'll let you know what kind of _favor _I want later, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Kaiten dismissively replied, waving him off. Part of her was sore about losing the bet, of course, but this…

Well, this was very _interesting. _Takehiko was clearly a ticking time bomb: it was only a matter of time until he blew up and tried to seriously kill someone. Kaiten could tell, as she'd met many of his ilk before in her sordid past.

Well, that was fine with her. In fact, she could _work _with this.

The only question was, how could she best use this to her advantage?

* * *

"Well, this place sure is something. Always had half a mind to visit one of the Shaolin temples in China, but I never thought I'd visit one like this," Kotaro quipped, as he and his group walked through the outer courtyard of the Shaolin Temple.

The outside of the temple was fairly large and expansive: it was surrounded on all sides by an impossibly high wall, no doubt put in place by Dios to keep them from escaping. The outer area was divided into several sections in general: there was the cobblestone courtyard at the front of the temple, an outdoor hot springs that took up most of the back area, what seemed to be a training ground over on the right, and a large statue of Buddha on the left, with a small prayer box in front of said statue.

Aside from the hot springs, it wasn't too out of sorts with what one might find at an actual temple. Of course, knowing the twisted fuck that was Dios, he probably had something up his sleeve. No doubt there was more to this temple than one might initially suspect.

Roberta frowned, eyeing the temple. "This is extremely detailed. Someone went through an awful lot of trouble to make this appear genuine."

"And there's a hot spring. Typical." Daniela added. "Glad we know where Dios' priorities lie."

"Well, at least we still have a place to bathe. I just hope Dios included bathrooms in our rooms again; I'd really rather not do without modern plumbing," Kagome said with a small smile. He noticed that she was glancing a little nervously at the Buddha statue though.

"Got a problem with the big fat man?" Kotaro inquired carelessly.

"Huh? Oh, no! I'm just...a bit nervous it might fall or something. I uh, had a statue...almost fall on me when I was little. I haven't really trusted them since," Kagome explained, giving an anxious little laugh.

Kotaro nodded, taking a puff from the cigarette between his lips before speaking up again. "I don't blame ya. Knowing Dios, he's probably got this place boobytrapped or something. That happens a lot with temples, don't it?"

"I think that's just mainly a trope in adventure stories..." Kagome pointed out.

"Yeah... unless Dios has a treasure hidden deep within this place, I think we're fine in that regard." Daniela followed up.

"Even if he did, I'd make it in just fine." Roberta chuckled, running a hand against one of the statues. "That is my specialty, after all."

"Is that so? Sounds like you've got some interesting stories to tell," he replied, before taking another puff from his cigarette.

Kagome wrinkled her nose in distaste and used her hand to wave off some of the resulting smoke that drifted in her direction. "I didn't want to say anything, sir, but...could you maybe not smoke around us...? I mean, I don't want to get cancer from secondhand smoking."

Kotaro rolled his eyes, but complied all the same, dropping his cig to the ground and stomping it out. "Fine, fine. You should learn to liven up a little though...besides, don't you work at McDonald's? Pretty sure you guys exclusively serve up heart disease on a bun."

"Hey! I have high standards for my store, you know!" she protested, pouting in response. "I made sure we only served high-quality food! And according to our sales numbers, we vastly outperformed all the other McDonald's locations in Osaka! You could say that we're taking a _McBite_ out of the competition!"

A good few seconds of silence passed in the wake of Kagome's pun. If it could even be _called _a pun. In response Kotaro just groaned, Roberta shook her head in dismay, and Daniela cringed out of second-hand embarrassment.

"...It's still fast food. People don't buy it because it's good, almost all fast food tastes like shit. People just get it cause it's cheap and easy," Kotaro finally, dismissively replied.

Kagome pouted again at him. "Jeez, you're so mean! Are you really sure you used to be a teacher?"

"I mean, he's right you know. You can't denounce smoking and then turn around and tout unhealthy eating habits. Pot calling the kettle black." Daniela chuckled.

"It's amazing what people argue about nowadays." Roberta wondered aloud to nobody in particular. "Some things never change."

"...The hell's that supposed to mean?" Daniela asked, glancing at the other girl curiously.

"Nothing. Don't mind me, just talking to myself." She replied, glancing back at the temple. "Now, who here has a sense of adventure, and wants to delve inside with me?"

Kotaro chuckled, eyeing Kagome in amusement before saying, "Yeah, there's not much else to see out here is there? May as well head inside, see what the others have found."

That said, Kotaro turned to walk back to the temple...but abruptly stopped as a coughing fit overcame him. Within seconds he was on his knees, practically dry heaving as he coughed. And each time he coughed, droplets of saliva mixed with blood sprayed onto the ground.

"...huh. Maybe Ronald McDonald over there had a point after all." Roberta replied simply.

"Not helping." Daniela scowled, casting a disapproving look towards the other girl, who simply shrugged in response. Daniela, however, was already rushing over to Kotaro. "Are you ok? Do we need to get the others?"

Kotaro coughed violently a few more times, before he finally seemed to settle down. He shakily got up to his feet after a moment, wiping at his mouth. "Y-yeah...I'm fine. Just the cancer trying to kick my ass again. Happens a lot these days."

"Cancer?" Kagome questioned, wide-eyed.

"...Ah. Guess I haven't told everyone, huh?" Kotaro questioned, before shrugging to himself. "Eh, not like it'll matter much. Yeah...I got lung cancer. Wasn't really a big shock, considering I go through a pack a day. It'll kill me before too long but hey, it was either gonna be this or my liver."

"Jesus. And you've just... given up?" Daniela replied, bewildered. "Did you not seek treatment?"

"Yes, I'm sure that thought never occurred to him when he found out he was going to die." Roberta chuckled, eyeing Kotaro with renewed interest. "Though I must say, you don't seem like the type to give up so easily."

"Heh, hard to fight when you're given a terminal diagnosis. All the docs say I've got stage four lung cancer, meaning my cancer has metastasized and spread to the rest of my body. Even with today's technology, I ain't coming back from that," Kotaro explained, giving a bitter laugh.

"I'm so sorry..." stated Kagome, her eyes downcast. "I had no idea. I-I hope I didn't offend you earlier."

"Eh, none taken. I've had my time to come to peace with things," he casually replied.

Roberta nodded, a look of slight respect in her eyes. "Then you've already done better than most people, who can't seem to realize that they won't live forever."

But that does not mean you should just give up on life." Daniela countered, turning to Kotaro. "Don't you have things you still wanna do?"

"Of course. But that ain't gonna change my diagnosis. Besides...the cancer might not get me after all. I'd say the odds of this game being the end of me instead of my cancer is about 50/50 at this point," Kotaro proclaimed, offering another bitter smile. "Come on, we'd best get moving. Let's go meet up with the others."

That said, he walked away, heading straight for the temple. After a moment, Kagome, Roberta, and Daniela all followed after him.

* * *

Trixie grumbled to herself as she observed the winding staircase leading to the temple's basement, very much wishing that Lumi had wanted to explore anywhere else in the temple _but _here. Because of _course,_ that infuriating giantess wanted to check out the creepy basement of the temple that, from what she'd picked up, had met a very violent and ghastly end.

Even if this place _was_ a recreation, she wouldn't be surprised at all if it was still haunted. Knowing Dios, she'd take great delight in setting up ghosts here to torment them.

"I swear to god there better not be another tentacle monster down here," she huffed, crossing her arms as she glanced back at the rest of the group. "Or any other creepy bullshit. I had enough of that last night."

"If it makes you feel any better, my internal sensors aren't picking up any life signs down there," Amar offered up, the robotic therapist's eyes illuminating the path ahead. With a lack of flashlights or any evidence of a lighting system down here, he'd lit up his eyes and had offered to guide them all forward.

"I'm not sure that's much more comforting," Natalya pointed out, sighing to herself. "We were literally chased all night by the undead. Dios has shown us that it's not just the living we need to fear here."

"Dearest Trixie, oh darling of mine," Lumi purred. She took a measured step that was almost a shuffle to the tiny temptress. "And precocious little Natalya," she continued in that drawl of hers. "Now is the time to be brave! Why, being able-bodied as we are, does it not comfort you to know that we're sparing the others from this ghastly gloom? 'Tis the duty of the cream that rises from the crop, no?"

Her dreamy Duchenne smile was made a touch more irritating when she swaddled the two girls in her arms, letting her scarf fall over their faces. "Lead the way, Mr. Tin Man! I haven't a clue as to how you work, but if it's a heart you seek, let us embark on this road of yellow bricks!"

The Erotic Novelist then paused for a short spell. "_The Wizard of Oz_, we are all very cultured and familiar with it, yes?"

"Yes, we are, now _let me go_!" Trixie hissed, struggled to worm her way out of Lumi's grasp to no avail. Natalya seemed similarly annoyed by the sudden embrace, but she wasn't fighting it as much.

"Very well. Let us be on our way," Amar agreed before he started climbing down the stairs. Once Lumi let go of the other two, they swiftly followed.

After climbing down a flight of stairs, they managed to arrive in the basement. It seemed normal enough...at least, at first glance. The main area of the basement seemed to comprise an entertainment area, with a large plasma tv mounted on the far wall surrounded on either side by several large bookshelves containing all sorts of media. Several different pieces of furniture were arranged around the tv itself, most of them looking quite comfortable and plush. Still, the modern aesthetics seemed to clash with the regal look the temple otherwise gave off.

Finally, there were a set of closed doors on either side of the room, presumably leading to other areas of the basement.

"Well...this seems normal enough..." Trixie commented, squinting her eyes slightly as she scanned the visible portions of the room lit up by Amar. "I just wish we could find a light switch or something. It's fucking dark down here."

"I'm afraid it's not entirely normal. Aside from the fact that one normally wouldn't find a room such as this in a monastic temple, there is something else I noticed," Amar pointed out, tilting his head up past the tv, illuminating the wall behind it. And the large, bombastic poster of Mao Zedong mounted on said wall.

In fact, as Amar shone his searchlights around, Trixie could see other evidence of similar propaganda. Posters on the walls with popular Communist slogans, a framed portrait of Chairman Mao and President Xi, and now that she took a closer look at the bookshelves...she was fairly sure it was full of Communist related material and media.

"...I don't think Yumei is going to like this room," Natalya observed.

"My, oh my," came Lumi's usual tone of astonishment, dotted with amusement. "Hmm, I'm reminded of the revolution of 1989—not that I was personally present for it, allow me to cite my youth. Pop quiz: Trixie, there was a similar scenario in your motherland too, correct?"

Not a second later, Lumi shook her head, jostling her attire. "No, no, this is hardly the time for political discourse, of which I can claim no expertise. But it's true, I imagine all this decoration would be neither tasteful not tactful in the expectant mother's one eye."

"Indeed. It may be best to have her stay away from the basement. We wouldn't want the items here to agitate her in any way. Considering her condition, it is the last thing we'd want to do," Amar agreed. After a moment he walked over to one of the doors, trying the knob for a good minute. It wouldn't budge, and after a moment Amar returned.

"It seems that the door is locked. There is a keyhole for a key, but unless we find a key, I doubt we'll get in anytime soon," he remarked.

"All right. Then let's try the other door," Trixie replied, giving a careless shrug.

That decided, they ventured over to the other remaining door. When Amar tried to open it, this time there wasn't any resistance. Thus they were able to get a fair peek into the next room.

By all appearances, it was a loving and touching display to the occult and macabre. The room was filled with all sorts of items of occult origin or other such disturbing things. One pedestal proudly housed the Necronomicon, a glass display case held a pair of ritual carving knives, an iron maiden was propped open against the wall, human body parts contained in jars littered a nearby shelf, a statue of a Tarrasque proudly took up the center of the room, and so on and so forth.

"...Well, fuck this shit!" Trixie declared, wide-eyed and pale as she stared in disbelief into the room. "I'm not going in there!"

Wordlessly, Lumi lifted the smaller woman and swapped places with her, as if they were castling in a game of chess. She curiously craned her neck into the room and, scanning past all the other marvelous sights, her eyes zeroed in on the skin-bound tome. "Might that be a...book of some sort?"

"I wouldn't touch that book if I were you," Natalya quipped, peering into the room uncertainly. "I don't get a good vibe from that thing."

Trixie, meanwhile, didn't complain about the switch. Instead she just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Of course out of all the things in that creepy room, you'd focus on the book..."

"Egad!" The author of questionable content swooned dramatically. "Oh me, oh my, what a baseless accusation to throw about, dear Trixie! Fie upon you for suggesting I would lower myself to reading whatever debauched drivel is recommended to us by Dios, a dozen curses upon their name!"

She huffed and pouted quite cutely for a woman of her size. "Were I to judge the book by its cover—which, I might add, is a perfectly valid tactic, don't let those buffoons lead you to believe otherwise—I imagine it'd be the trifling trash only refuse-dwellers such as Roberta would take delight in!"

"Ahem. I am a woman of culture, you see," she concluded with clasped hands.

"..._Sure_ you are," Trixie replied at length, her voice dripping with sarcasm. At the same time, she couldn't help but look back into the room. The statue of the Tarrasque...it looked almost vaguely familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on *why* it felt like that...

"Well, it seems that this basement is full of intriguing items, though they definitely do not belong in a temple. If I had to guess, Dios put in these locations here on purpose...though for what reason, I couldn't say," Amar theorized, cupping his chin in thought. "I also don't see the key to the other room in here, far as I can tell. It's possible that might be hidden in another location in the temple."

Witch hat in hand and fanning herself with it to cool down from her heated assertions, Lumi cleared her throat once more to draw the android's attention. "But Amar, couldn't you...oh, I don't know, simply use your mechanical gizmos to unlock the door or however that works."

"...I was not built with that particular capability, Luminisa," Amar bluntly declared, sounding the faintest bit amused. "That was not among the many abilities my creator granted to me. So I'm afraid I can't turn one of my fingers into a lock pick, or whatever it was that you were imagining. It is possible I could break the door down, but I am fairly certain Dios would frown on that and punish us as a result."

"Besides, if Dios wants to keep us out of that room, I imagine even a lock pick wouldn't open it," Natalya said. She glanced back curiously at the locked door, eyeing it speculatively. "It does make me wonder what is inside, though. Though given the contents of the rest of the basement, it likely isn't anything good."

"How disappointing. Oh, what I wouldn't do to have the well-proportioned inspector from that one cartoon here with us..." Lumi's shoulders drooped as she gave Amar a begrieved look, then her lips pursed as if something dawned upon her. "Now hear me out, I'm not robophobic per se, but I am very upset with you and your people. Hmph! Don't think I've forgotten so soon—I still haven't forgiven you for scrambling my flight destination!"

Amar stared at Lumi for a good moment, his unblinking gaze unwavering as he searched for the appropriate response. Trixie, meanwhile, snickered to herself and looked up haughtily at the novelist.

"Pretty sure that one's all on you," she declared. "Only an old fogey like you could have booked the wrong flight. Like, seriously, how did that even happen?"

A most miraculous spectacle occurred at that moment: Lumi sputtered, cheeks rapidly reddening as she yanked her hat down to cover her face. "It w-wasn't my fault, it's all just so confusing, like a story with no semblance of a cohesive plot! Unlike certain individuals—cough, Pietro, cough—I'm not one for conspiracies, but those naughty machines have become far too arrogant and big-headed for their own good!"

She turned her head to the purported machine in question, though her eyes were still hidden underneath her hat. "Oh, not that your head is too much more massive than what is acceptable by our society's standards of beauty. I'm sure there's a guy or gal out there who prefers them on the larger side, do not fret!"

"...Thank you?" Amar replied, sounding genuinely bewildered. "Though I am not interested in establishing a romantic or sexual relationship with a human."

Trixie just snickered some more, very much pleased to see Lumi on the back foot for once. She'd cherish this moment of seeing Lumi blush and sputter for the rest of her life! "Sure, sure. When you put it that way, it makes _perfect_ sense. Are you sure you're not a boomer? Because you sure do act like one. Remind me, what year were you born again?"

"I'm only two years your senior, show a modicum of respect, would you?" Lumi shot back, lifting the corner of her hat to make eye contact with her compatriot of the risqué. She was just about to let loose one of her usual jokes, a terrible play on words involving "modicum", when she remembered their adult trio was actually a mixed-aged quartet, and young Natalya was looking quite done with the whole situation.

"Look, can we just join the others already? I don't think we'll find anything else down here," Natalya groused, crossing her arms in a huff. "I could be doing better things right now than listen to you two flirt. Like see if the kitchen here has Mountain Dew this time."

All the smug self-assurance Trixie felt over getting one up over Luminisa vanished in an instant. She blushed bright red, and shot the eleven-year-old a decisive glare. "F-Flirting?! We're not—that's not what—I'm _insulting_ her, not—!"

"Yes, I agree. I think we're done down here," Amar agreed, ignoring her tantrum. "Let us go, shall we?"

"Aww, so precocious!" Lumi cooed at the little girl, the nuclear physicist who was likely more mature than half of the participants there. "It really is quite the wonder as to how so many cuties were collected. Of course, that includes you too!" Smiling warmly, the woman leaned forward to bop Trixie on the nose and giggled.

Trixie outright growled in response, the temptation to open her mouth and bite Lumi's offending fingers quite strong. But she managed to hold herself back, deciding that that'd only play into Lumi's schemes.

"Fine, fine. Let's get out of here already," she huffed, before moving back towards the stairs.

The others followed her in quick order, and the group soon left the basement behind.

* * *

Kogo walked alongside Kaizoku, Asan, and Kalisto as they made their way through the interior of the temple, exploring the main floor quite thoroughly. For the most part there hadn't been anything on this floor that had seemed really unusual or strange...sure, the entrance to a hot springs out back was a little odd, but it was plain to see that Dios had just imported the one from Castle Greyhawk to the Shaolin Temple.

Aside from that, the rest of the temple seemed fairly ordinary. There was a kitchen, a large dining hall, a meditation room, a dojo, and a rudimentary infirmary. The very last area they had left to check turned out to be the dormitories...though there was a distinct, clear difference to these dormitories as compared to the ones back in Greyhawk.

"It seems like we won't be getting a lot of privacy here," Kogo noted, her eyes scanning over the expansive dorm room. And it was just one room, singular.

Rows of bunk beds and adjoining footlockers filled the area, taking up just about all the available space. It was enough room to house all of the contestants, but it'd still be a bit of a cramped fit. Not to mention there was a startling lack of privacy.

There also seemed to only be the singular bathroom too, unless there were others in the temple. Kogo hoped that was the case because otherwise there would be a _lot _of problems with twenty-plus people sharing a sole bathroom.

"I guess it makes sense, though. This _is _a temple after all, and communal living is a hallmark of the monastic lifestyle...or so I've heard," she added.

"Aye, quite a few boats I've been on just had cots for the crew to sleep in," Kaizoku explained as he walked up towards one of the bunks.

Asan followed behind him as he stared at the room carefully. "That's crazy! I mean some hospitals have something similar but I've never seen this many beds! This'll be cool, but I always like getting to hang out with more people anyway!"

Kalisto, for his part, gave an uncaring shrug. "Used to living...in jungles. Sleeping like this...not difficult for me. Others...might care more."

"Yeah...I can see that. Not everyone would be happy with a setup like this," Kogo agreed. "Still, I guess it could be worse. I gotta admit, I've always kind of wanted to sleep in a bunk bed. I always thought it might be fun as a little girl."

"Heh well better late than never, right?" the EMT said, giving a thumbs up.

"We can worry about the details later, lass. For now, we should probably keep our expedition going," Kaizoku explained with a wave of his hand.

"True. I'm not sure there's much else to explore though...inside the temple at least," Kogo confessed. She tapped her chin in thought, leaning back against the wall as she contemplated their options.

The wall abruptly gave way behind her, however, causing the Charm to yelp as she flailed backward. She landed harshly on her rear, and winced as pain shot up her spine.

"Ow..." Kogo murmured, hastily getting up. "Wait, did I find a secret passageway or..."

The words died on her throat as she turned around to look at whatever she'd unearthed. The false section of the wall had opened up to reveal a hidden room, which itself contained an altar. Various different pictures decorated the walls of the room, depicting monks of varying ages going about their daily lives. And on the centerpiece of the altar itself rested a photograph displaying a group of monks. Almost all of them were unknown to Kogo herself, but she could easily recognize the visage of Yumei Mao as one of the people in that picture.

It wasn't the Yumei she knew, however. She was younger in the photo, and had both of her eyes. The picture displayed a Yumei Mao from a more innocent time before the flames of Despair had utterly burned her life to cinders.

"I guess...this is an altar for all the Monks who lived here...?" Kogo theorized, focusing on the group picture. "Oh, poor Yumei. It can't be easy for her to be back here. Even if it isn't actually her temple, it must still bring up a lot of old wounds for her."

"Aye... I'm sure that's what that scallywag Dios is going for. I wonder if they got something like this cooked up for all of us," the Ultimate Sailor added as he looked down to the pictures in the room.

Asan moved up close and with a hand on his hip pouch. "Hey, Kogo are you alright? You didn't hurt anything did you? Also you should fix your skirt, it looks like it got hitched up." The boy was talking extra fast as he started to reach for bandages with one and pointed to the girl's clothing with the other.

"N-No, I'm fine...w-wait, what?" Kogo paused, glancing back at herself as she confirmed what Asan had said. Her cheeks flushed horribly, and the Charm let out an embarrassed squeak as she quickly moved to put her skirt back into place. "J-Jeez! This is so embarrassing..."

"Good question," Kalisto responded to the sailor, choosing to ignore Asan and Kogo's antics. "Hard to say. Still, not sure why... Dios focusing so hard on her. They seem to...have it out...for her?"

He frowned, his eyes narrowed in thought as he considered the possibilities. "Yumei...special, for some reason. That clear to me. Why?"

"That is...a little odd," Kogo agreed, pursing her lips. "I mean, it could be the prelude to...all of us getting treatment like her? If that makes sense. But I'm not sure that's it either. Poor Yumei, though. Dios really has it out for her, for some reason."

"Seems to. Though seeing my dad as a zombie makes me think we all aren't also in for something personalized towards us..." Kaizoku replied as he rubbed his left forearm.

"That's true. I guess we'll find out for sure one way or another..." Kogo said.

After a moment she backed out of the hidden room, glancing around the dorm one last time before her eyes settled on the exit. "Well, let's go reconvene with the others. I don't think there's much else for us to find in here."

"Fine with me," Kalisto agreed.

"Yup! Let's hurry back, I want to know if anyone found anything really crazy!" Asan mused as he pumped a fist.

"I don't know if I want to see anything 'crazy' in this kind of game, lad. But getting back together would be for the best," Kaizoku explained with a sigh, though a small smile pulled at his lips.

* * *

It was an odd thing, to walk through the ghosts of her past: to once again see the hallowed halls of her childhood home. It was something she never thought she'd get to experience again. Indeed, in the years after her exile, Yumei Mao would have given _anything _to be able to return to her temple and live within it once more.

But now….actually being here, even if only a simulated version of her old home….

It felt wrong. Completely and utterly _wrong. _

It was far too quiet, too still. There was no noise, either from the monks who were supposed to be inhabiting it, or from the neighboring village just outside the monastery walls. The quiet was utterly foreign to her, and the lack of even ambient noise dug at her.

Gone too was any sense of holiness or sanctuary from this place. Whereas once Yumei had been able to find peace and tranquility in the Shaolin Temple, now she only found unease and discomfort. This was an eerie, soulless place, nothing at all like the temple of her memories. And yet it was so identical to the place she remembered, so utterly like it that it _should _feel like home.

She felt none of that, however. The only thing Yumei Mao found in this uncanny replication of her Shaolin Temple was a foreboding sense of doom.

"Yumei? Are you all right?"

She blinked, jolted out of her reverie by a familiar voice. Her good eye stared over toward Fuka and Naoki, their concerned faces drawing her further back into the world of the living.

"...No, I am not," she answered at length.

She placed a hand on a nearby wall, feeling the smooth, polished texture brushing against her palm. It was yet another uncanny aspect of this place: the walls she remembered of the actual temple were more bumpy and rough, nothing at all like the material Dios had used in the construction of this replica.

It was a small difference, granted, and yet it still grated at her. To see something so alike to her old home, and yet it was all _off _in the subtlest of ways. It made her so irrationally furious, more than she had any right to be.

Was this another devilish aspect of her captor's plan? To further whittle away at her mental state? To pervert the memory of something she once found comfort and joy in?

Whatever the case was, Yumei did not like it in the slightest.

"I know this must be a shock dear," Naoki spoke up, laying a calming hand on her shoulder. "I...know what it feels like, to a degree. I...never expected I'd find myself back in China, myself. Or a recreation of it, as it were. Still—!"

"You _understand? _You understand, do you?" Yumei demanded, leveling a withering glare at the older man. "So you know what it is like, to see something you treasure so dearly, to be perverted and redesigned to torture every fiber of your being? You _understand _having painful memories of your past dredged up and thrown in your face like this?

"The last time I saw this place, it was being burnt to the ground: my brethren monks were slaughtered without mercy and no quarter was given. My entire world had come to an end that foul night, and for the longest time after that all I knew was pain, suffering, and death. And now I find myself back here again, in a mocking recreation of the home I lost. Every moment I linger in this wretched place conjures up more painful memories for me. This...this _abomination _of a temple threatens to pervert every last happy memory I have of my old home. Do you _understand _that, Naoki?!"

Her body was trembling as she spoke, her fists curled up tightly as seething rage coiled around her body. At the same time, she projected a most dangerous aura, an aura that heralded the arrival of the Dragon. And at that moment, Yumei wanted nothing more than to give in to her anger, and unleash the Dragon upon this mockery of her home, to break and rip and tear asunder everything in her way until this vile replica was utterly destroyed.

Before she could surrender to her emotions, however, something entirely unexpected occurred. Naoki abruptly kneeled down and wrapped her in a strong, firm hug.

"I _do _understand Yumei, more than you know," he whispered, holding her tightly. "You're scared and you're angry, and that's never a good combination. But you can't give in to those emotions, not know. That's exactly what Dios wants. It's hard...but you've got to put that aside. You can't give them what they want."

For a moment she tensed, almost rejecting the hug out of spite. But she let Naoki's warmth flow through her, and ever so slowly, she started to relax. Yumei breathed a deep sigh, and her old training reasserted itself. To her relief, she started to feel as the rage within her receded and withdrew, until it was largely gone.

"...Thank you," she replied, finally hugging him back. Naoki squeezed her tighter in response, before letting her go.

"You're welcome, my dear. I'm more than happy to help," Naoki kindly said, smiling at her as he got back up.

"I'm here too, if you need me," Fuka added with her own warm smile, reaching over to gently pat her shoulder. "I imagine your pregnancy isn't doing any favors for your emotional state either. Believe me, I know what it's like. We're both here to help you if you need it, Yumei. You're not alone in this."

"Thank you, Doctor," Yumei nodded at her, before taking in another calming breath. "Okay. Okay. I think...I'm good now. Or as good as I'll ever be here."

Naoki and Fuka accepted her claim easily enough, and soon enough they started heading deeper into the temple. Yumei herself didn't want to linger unnecessarily, and she was sure the others had finished their explorations by now. It was time to rendezvous and debrief.

And, perhaps, get some clearer answers from Dios, if the fiend dared to show themselves.


	14. A Trip Down Memory Lane 2-2

It was past noon now, and Dios had yet to make another appearance thus far, even after everyone had come together to debrief about their new surroundings. The news of a communal bedroom had gone down about as well as one might have expected: which was to say, relatively poorly. If anything, the news that apparently only two bathrooms had been found in the whole temple had only exacerbated those ill feelings.

Regardless, after getting everyone on the same page, the rest of their not so little group had drifted off to do their own things. For her own part, Luminisa Lupei had eventually made her way to the changing room of the hot springs, eager to get some relaxation in. Inside the changing area itself, she had seen Jackie had already beat her to the punch: the Cowgirl was already wrapping a towel around herself as the Erotic Novelist entered.

"Guess you had the same idea, huh?" Jackie noted with a small smile.

"Oh? If by that you mean trying to doff one's clothes in the common area before being ousted by the mob—minus the pitchforks—like some practitioner of the pagan arts, thus being forced to this designated stripping space"—she inhaled quite quickly—"then yes, verily!"

Lumi balanced on her tippy toes, amplifying her already tremendous height, and smiled down at the gorgeous gunslinger. "Ah, yes, perhaps my signature headwear is what's to blame for the confusion? I swear, it's not as though I would ever form a coven with that Roberta woman. Hers is pointy, while mine is floppy! Clearly you can tell whose taste is superior, hmm?"

Jackie cocked her head, before giving a bemused laugh. "Well, obviously I can tell that much! No offense to Roberta, but _clearly_ you've got a better fashion sense. Among other things."

In response, Lumi raised a bemused brow. "My, oh my, whatever could you mean, dear Jacqueline? Pray tell, is it true that everything is _bigger_ down in Texas?" The lengthy lady tittered as she undressed, unclipping her skirt and letting it fall the meter that it took to pool around her ankles.

"Heh, well, you could say that. And well...you've got us all beat in terms of height, you know?" Jackie drawled, watching Lumi undress with mild interest.

As Lumi continued to undo button after button, and lace after lace, she began one of her usual episodes of prattling. "Yes, yes, but it wasn't always easy being such a statuesque stunner, as they say. Prodigious popularity isn't necessarily a nice thing to have when it's in the wrong place and in the wrong ways...Hmm, but never mind all that. I'm at risk of prattling again!"

"A query for you, young lady of the Deep South: I don't see why most of the others have gotten their panties and briefs tied into knots over having to share a bedroom. I, for one, have never received the slightest shred of privacy all my life." She paused for a second to pinch her tongue between her teeth. "Why, even seeing used condoms strewn about the room was a fairer sight than seeing none at all, for that meant they had at least been used. And being afforded the modern amenities of a lavatory and hot water is already more than many of the people back home could hope for. Ahh, truly, what a childhood this Luminisa has had!"

"Eh, I imagine most people just value their privacy, or aren't used to sharing a room," Jackie stated, giving a small shrug. At the same time, she decided to completely avoid the topic of Lumi's rather sordid childhood. "I had to share a lot with my older brothers growin' up. So I'm kinda used to it."

Luminisa's smile thinned, though it was no less genuine. "Aww, not bothering to bite the topics that cascaded from these...oddly loose lips of mine?" Her smile diminished for real this time as she mulled over the seemingly strange occurrence. Eventually, she shrugged, brushing those thoughts aside, then flung her lacy black bra off into parts unknown. "Eh, fair enough! Surprisingly, I was an only child, and I can assure you that's not the norm for Romanian families. More pressingly, let's hurry into the hot springs! Standing nude in this frigid air would be a rather different sort of occupation."

"Well, I don't want to pry, and my Daddy always told me to be mindful of how privileged I was compared to others growing up," Jackie replied. "And that we wouldn't! Let's get going!"

That declaration made, Lumi and Jackie soon exited the changing room and made their way into the actual hot springs. Though it soon became clear that someone had beat the both of them to the punch.

"Ah, good afternoon," Yumei waved at them both from where she sat in the springs, a relaxed expression on her face.

"Why, good afternoon yourself, Miss Mao!" Lumi responded cordially...yet also with some infinitesimally faint tinge of aggression. Who could say why?

She took one long stride and stepped down into the steamy spring water, sighing a most pleasured sigh. "Oh yes, Trixie would love it here! Latvians do enjoy such activities. Or could I be conflating them with those fine folk from Finland?" she mused dreamily.

It would be pertinent to note that on account of Luminisa's infamous height, her upper half—sculpted clavicle, shoulders, the flushed skin of her breasts—remained well above the water surface.

Jackie eased into the water a moment later, sighing in relief as she let her troubles wash away. "Mm, this does feel very good..."

"Yes, it does. It almost makes me wish we had had something like this back in my actual temple..." Yumei mused with a smile. "Of course, Grandmaster Mao would have cautioned against such. It wouldn't have agreed with our lifestyle."

"Grandmaster Mao? My, if you ask me, that's already quite the luxurious title. Were they your relative, or perhaps you received your namesake from them?" Lumi inquired before reclining further back so as to fully submerge her chest, which was starting to feel chilly.

"It is the latter, as it happens. After the monks found me among the refuse of a nearby village, it was Grandmaster Mao who decided to take me in, and he was the one who named me. He saw me as his responsibility, and thus he gave me his family name," Yumei replied. She smiled faintly, sighing as she recalled memories of a happier time. "He was a very good man, the Grandmaster. He was the closest thing I ever had to a father. He was so very kind, and wise beyond his years."

Uncharacteristically for the woman, Lumi merely nodded and was silent as she swished her legs through the water.

"...You're being awfully quiet over there, Lumi," Yumei remarked after a lingering moment of silence between them. "I don't think we've talked much personally, but I'm used to seeing you being quite the chatterbox. Is something the matter?"

"Tut-tut, I'm simply resting my vocal cords, as it were—the longer the strand, the more quickly it tires, I'll have you know!" she shot back, somewhat testily but mostly in a joking manner. But not a moment later, Lumi felt compelled to add, "I was deliberating over whether I should ask if this father figure of yours is still...doing all right."

"...Unfortunately, he is not," Yumei replied after a moment, her eye downcast. Her hands curled into fists beneath the water, even as she took a moment to compose herself and take a few calming breaths.

"Grandmaster Mao and the other monks I grew up with...they all died several years ago. I was the only survivor of the massacre that saw my temple destroyed," she sighed.

"Jeez..." Jackie shook her head and gave the monk a sympathetic look. "I've heard bits and pieces of this through the grapevine, but...it can't have been easy, I imagine."

"...No, it wasn't," she agreed. "Still, I survived. And in the end, I managed to smuggle my way to Japan and was granted political asylum. It could have turned out...far, far worse for me."

Lumi's gaze grew glassy, like topaz that had lost its sheen. She tucked her wet bangs behind an ear, leaned forward a little, then softly demanded, "Describe this 'far worse' to me. I'm not asking out of curiosity, nor do I deny that entropy is a harsh mistress whose lash may always be doubled...but truly, how could it be worse?"

Yumei raised an eyebrow, somewhat taken aback by Lumi's words. Nonetheless, she shrugged and matter-of-factly stated, "Well, they could have killed me, for one thing. Or if not that, then captured me, tortured me, raped me, then either executed me or brainwashed me into renouncing my faith and pledging my everlasting loyalty to the State. China is not kind at all to those its government views as political dissidents."

The lumens returned to Lumi's eyes and she smiled, the expression moist with melancholy. "Young lady, who doth be a young mother, if you are canny of at least this much, might I recommend...being kinder to yourself? After all, at the hour which we art most reticent, there is nary a soul to heareth our murmurs but ourselves."

"Ah, doth my dialect cast an insincere shadow over my words ?" Her smile was now more sheepish, though she seemed to skip over the fact that her faux-Shakespearean pattern of speech really wasn't a dialect at all.

Yumei studied Luminisa for a moment before she allowed a small smile to spread across her lips. "Not at all, Lumi. We all have our mannerisms in speech. And...perhaps you are right. Self-reflection and accounting of one's transgressions had been a tenant of my faith growing up, but perhaps I have...been harsher than need be, in that aspect of things."

"I gotta agree with Lumi. You really should be kinder to yourself!" Jackie chimed in. "Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. We've all made mistakes and errors in the past...and while we should reflect and resolve to do better, we can't let it hinder us either. Otherwise, well, you're prone to make more mistakes."

There was a faint humming noise, and it didn't take long for the source to be found. Lumi's mouth was working itself in knots, scrunching, and unscrunching. At last, she sighed, her shoulders sagging with a gram of guilt. "Yes, yes, that's all well and good—especially since I was the one to suggest this timely revelation—but now I must admit that it's true! I was, in fact, 'hamming it up,' as the plebeians—and I do count myself among their ranks—say! Do we follow? Mm-hmm, we do!"

She cleared her throat before grinning wickedly. "Shakespeare was a hack...and balding to boot! Fufufu, I've been making a jest of that long-dead dullard all along!"

Yumei cocked her head, before giving a short laugh. "You...are a strange, strange girl, Luminisa Lupei. But I happen to like strange people. I wasn't sure what to make of you at first, but I think we'll get along just fine."

The woman giggled in response. "You're not so bad yourself, girl! Hey, yo, this is life, isn't it? Chillin' in the hot springs with the three of us bad bitches." The voice was verifiably hers—complete with her full-bodied accent—even if the diction was not...or at least not what had typically been associated with the writer.

"Ha, amen to that!" Jackie enthusiastically cheered.

Yumei giggled as well and nodded. "Yes, now that is a sentiment I can get behind."

Yes, perhaps this wasn't so bad. Indeed, moments like this helped to alleviate the tension she otherwise felt in situations like this. Normally a good spar or some old fashioned training would have cleared her mind better, but this wasn't a bad stress reliever either…

But a quiet whisper sounded from the back of Yumei's mind, interrupting her calm. "_You could be so much stronger…"_ The Dragon mused. "_Being back home, you could have a chance to be that powerful again..."_

Yumei tensed all of a sudden, her eyes widening for a brief moment. Just as quickly though she forced herself to relax once more. At the same time she couldn't help but give the Dragon a heated reply. "_You are not welcome here, foul beast. I do not need you to badger me now, of all times."_

At that moment, Yumei received a splash of hot water to—oxymoronically—cool her face, courtesy of Lumi and her shovel-like hands. "Don't mind me! You didn't seem to be completely present there for a moment. Perhaps you've spent a tad too long turning into a prune here, hmm?"

Yumei blinked for a moment, before giving a sudden snort. Giving Lumi a wry smile she said, "Ah, perhaps I have...thank you for that. Still, I feel reluctant to leave these soothing waters. And I'd hate to lose such fine company as well."

"Well, we're happy to have you around!" Jackie proclaimed with a wide grin. "Though we could always hang out somewhere else: we don't have to stick around here."

"Hear, hear!" Lumi cheered, rising from the steam with no regard to everything of hers that was now boldly on display. "I've heard—from surely reputable sources—that the Japanese custom after soaking in a hot spring is to frolic nakedly in the frosty air! Why don't we all give it a go?"

"Ha, well, I'm game if y'all are!" Jackie mused, chuckling to herself as she rose from the water.

"Mm, I suppose it might be nice to go dry off now," Yumei agreed, also rising from the water. "Though it might be less frolicking from me...slow, turtle-like steps would be more alike. I can't move as fast as I used to."

"Heh, no shame in that. Comes with the territory when you're expecting," Jackie replied. "All right, let's go dry ourselves off, then."

* * *

"I appreciate you coming along for this," Kotaro said as he and Kaizoku walked through the grounds of the Shaolin Temple. "Nana seems to like you...or as much as she likes anyone who's not an animal. Between the two of us, hopefully, we can get her to calm down."

The so-called Best Veterinarian had thrown a big fit during their group meeting earlier when it became clear there were no new animals for her to play with. She'd stormed off in a big huff, and hadn't shown up for lunch at all. So now the two of them were trying to track her down, and hopefully, coax Nana out of her foul mood.

"Aye well, I doubt the lass would admit to that," Kaizoku mused as he carefully eyed the surroundings. "Have there been any sightings of her? Or is that the point of this expedition?"

"I heard from Naoki that he saw Nana out on the grounds somewhere a little while ago. It's the best lead we've got so far, so it's our only choice really," Kotaro confirmed.

They searched the grounds like that for another five minutes, before Kotaro finally managed to spot Nana. She was huddled up near the temple, her arms crossed over herself as she leaned against the wall. And once they got closer to her, they could hear the girl muttering angrily to herself.

"Stupid stupid temple...no new animals for Nana...who can Nana make friends with now?"

"Oi lass, don't be so upset," the Sailor started to explain as he carefully approached the girl. He stopped a little bit away, not wanting to crowd the girl. "Maybe there are some birds or something that are just hiding. We can look together."

Nana paused in her mumbling, and leveled her gaze over at Kaizoku. She stared at him, her brows furrowed in clear skepticism. "...Nana doesn't believe you. You're just trying to trick Nana!"

"No, he's not. We're just trying to help you," Kotaro chimed in, stopping beside the Ultimate Sailor. "And he could be right about the birds. We won't know for sure unless we look together, right?"

"Hmmm..." Nana hummed to herself, staring hard at them both. She still seemed dubious of their intentions, but she was still at least hearing them out.

"Hah, what a riot, you think I'm going to bother animating birds? Screw that, you humans just want more and more," Fendil said as he appeared leaning against a tree, his arms crossed over his chest.

Kaizoku rolled his eyes as he turned to face the man. "Ah great, Dios is here playing dress-up again. Either way is making animals that hard? You don't seem to have any trouble controlling a ton of bodies at one."

Fendil scoffed as he adjusted his cloak. "It's not that I can't, I just don't want to. Especially not for that stupid human over there." He lazily waved a hand in Nana's direction as he talked.

"Nana is not a stupid human, meow!" Nana emphatically denied, openly hissing at Fendil as she glared fiercely at him. "Nana is nothing like these smelly humans, ribbit! Nana is special and better than any of them, woof!"

"You're a real asshole, you know that Dios? Or Fendil, or whatever the fuck you call this version of you," Kotaro heatedly stated with a scowl. "You can't do one nice thing for the kid there?!"

Fendil leaned his head back as he roared in laughter. After a few moments, he looked back at the group and leveled a finger at the Veterinarian. "Maybe she's right, she's special alright and I think some people wouldn't consider her human after what she did," the man said as he smiled darkly.

Kaizoku's brow furrowed for a moment before lightly shaking his head. "I'm guessing you're talking about her first game... well it doesn't matter to me. Some of the games I've seen, and what people had to do to survive..."

"He's right. Whatever it was that Nana did in the past, I don't care. We've all seen shit, and been through hell, and I won't hold anything she did against her," Kotaro decisively agreed.

For her part, Nana's eyes widened just a moment, before she quickly shook her head. "Nana...Nana doesn't know what you're talking about, chirp! Nana has always been Nana, woof! You're just trying to be mean and confuse Nana, squeak!"

"Oh yeah? Well, how about I just show you," Fendil waved his hand as the all too familiar silver mist poured out. The cloud coalesced and formed into a small white rabbit, however a large pile of mist was taking form behind it as well. The animal looked around confused for a moment before a pair of arms scooped it up in a hug.

"Bark! Nana found a new friend! She loves you the mostest, bunbun!" A copy of Nana gleefully pinned the rabbit against her chest. But after a few quiet moments, she stared down at it with a dead-eyed stare. The rabbit suddenly began to squirm and kicks at the girl's arms, fighting to get free. "Shh Nana just wants to play... Dinnertime!" In a flash of movement, the clone lifted the panicking rabbit up to her covered mouth. A loud sickening crunch followed as well as a torrent of blood bursting out from the rabbit.

Nana shrieked in terror, wailing at the horrid vision being put on display. She turned tail almost immediately, and before anyone could stop her she started scurrying up the walls of the temple. Surprisingly enough, she managed it just fine, despite the huge mittens that covered up her hands. In quick order she had scaled the entire temple and now sat on top of the roof.

"...Great, just great," Kotaro groaned, shaking his head. "What a goddamn fucking asshole...Jesus. What do you even have against her? Or any of us?"

The illusion of Nana melted away into mist as Fendil smirked at the Maestro. "Frankly it's just amusing. You, humans, have fucked up everything so much that the way I see it this is you guys just getting what you deserve," Fendil didn't wait for a reply as he turned around and casually walked off.

"Bastard scallawag," Kaizoku muttered as he turned to look up at Nana. "I can't believe that... goddammit well, I'll go look for some rope or a ladder I guess."

"Yeah, I guess..." Kotaro sighed, pressing a hand to his temples. Something caught his eye a moment later, however, and he glanced over. He blinked for a moment before he decided not to question his good luck. "Or, maybe that won't be necessary."

"Hey, Angel Boy!" Kotaro called out to Hapi, who wasn't too far away from them. The Archangel, looked over at them, and walked on over.

"Do you need my assistance?" Hapi politely asked.

Kaizoku sighed as he gestured a thumb over his shoulder, up at the girl. "Aye lad. That bilge rat, Dios scared the poor girl. And if this is anything like the tree at the castle she's going to get stuck up there. Think you could lend us a hand, or well a wing?"

"Of course. I would be more than happy to help," Hapi replied with a smile. He took a step back, briefly getting a look for just how high up Nana was. "I'll do my best, but given Nana's...attitude toward people, I think she might struggle with me."

"Yeah, probably," Kotaro agreed. His gaze drifted over to Azzur, the archangel's pet cat, who was perched on his shoulder. "That cat of yours would definitely help, though. If Nana doesn't want to come down, just tell her you'll let her play with it if she lets you take her back down."

Hapi nodded at that, and after a moment he flexed his wings and took to the air. He flew up and started to head towards the Best Veterinarian.

While he was busy with that, Kotaro glanced back over at the sailor. Despite his earlier words, he couldn't help but wonder about Nana. "...What do you think happened to her? That poor girl must have gone through a lot to end up so distrustful of people."

"Who can say. I've seen quite a lot of things since I started working as a rescue worker for these damned games. So many people with so many varied reactions. One person who'd only seen a single death but was driven mad, while another had witnessed a massacre but still tried to comfort others. Trauma isn't a competition, and the way it's dealt with is different with every person," Kaizoku explained as he carefully watched the two people up on the roof.

"Yeah...true enough. Still, I hope we can prevent anything or anyone else from traumatizing her further..." Kotaro murmured.

It was a vain hope though, and they didn't have a lot of that left these days.

* * *

"...Remind me how I got roped into this shit again?" Trixie grumbled to herself as she chopped the vegetables placed on the cutting board before her. She certainly hadn't planned on getting roped into helping Pietro prepare for dinner, but, well...here she was. Doing just that.

She'd sort of gotten used to cooking for herself, when she got especially bored of pre-prepared, pre-packaged food. So it wasn't like she was a complete novice about all this. Even so, she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about this turn of events.

"I asked for your help, and didn't take no for an answer," Pietro kindly reminded her, the one-armed chef stirring a boiling pot over on his station. "Besides, did you really have anything better to do?"

Trixie scowled and grumbled to herself, but didn't have a good retort to that. Well, truth be told, she did have _one _response come to mind.

"You're an asshole," she gruffly informed Pietro.

"Mm, perhaps I am. Who can say?" the Chef replied.

"Well, regardless, I'm happy with how this is turning out!" Aika giggled, her hand browsing over different seasonings. "I would often get roped into cooking for my family, so I'd like to think I know my way around a kitchen really well!"

"You as well?" Fuka added, the woman having an uncharacteristically good attitude. "I would often cook for my husband while we were on the road. He often told me my food was one of a kind!" She gushed, hardly paying attention as she was cooking what appeared to be hamburger meat, but with the meat's suspiciously green and black coloring, along with the borderline rancid smell, it was hard to tell.

"Is... is it supposed to be green?" Aika inquired softly, her eyes widening as the meat burst into flames.

Pietro paused, looking back and forth between Fuka and the charbroiled, foul-smelling meat in her pan. Then he whispered to himself, so quietly that only Trixie managed to hear:

"I have made a huge mistake."

For her part, Trixie could hardly look away from Fuka's station, horrid fascination visible on her face. At the same time, she couldn't help but wonder how someone so smart and well learned could be so, so delusional at the same time...

"And...and did you ever taste your own cooking?" Trixie hesitantly asked, before giving a silent prayer to Fuka Tanaka's poor, poor husband.

"Oh, unfortunately I can't. I'm a vegetarian, you see. I mostly eat salads, fruits, and the like." The Virologist explained, not even blinking at the small fire as she began whacking the meat with her spatula in a thankfully successful attempt to put it out. Her smile returned, as she once again began flipping the beyond salvageable meat. "But that does not mean I wouldn't cook for my darling husband! I even add my own special ingredient to the meat to make it healthy! And it seems to have worked, because he was always able to stay thin whenever I cooked for him for long periods of time!"

'_Or he just didn't eat the food you made him and practically starved half to death for the sake of your marriage.'_ Aika thought to herself, not having the heart to say what they were all thinking aloud. She herself had renewed motivation to cook well, if only to ensure she would have a proper meal tonight.

"I...I see," Trixie slowly replied. Then, with her own newfound motivation, she went back to her cutting board and somewhat more frantically began chopping her vegetables.

"..."

Pietro slowly and carefully gave Fuka a _look_, before casually returning his own attention to his pot. "Well. That was...very generous of you, Doctor Tanaka. Very generous indeed."

"S-So," Trixie spoke up after a moment, desperate to change the subject to anything else but Fuka's abominable cooking. "You cooked a lot for your family, Aika?"

"Oh, yes! Cooking was one of my chores, though I guess most of the chores were mine..." She laughed nervously. "If I messed up a meal, I was sure to hear about it from my cousins, so... I learned to get good, very quickly."

Fuka frowned, quickly able to pick up the strain and slight hurt in her voice. "Aika dear, you don't have to respond if you are not comfortable, but I get the sense that those weren't really chores, were they?"

"Oh sure, be oblivious to your own shitty cooking, but not everything else," The Shepard muttered to herself, before shaking her head. "Don't worry too much, Miss Tanaka. That was in the past, and I'm happy to say I have a better relationship with my cousins now than I did in the past!"

"Well...that's good to hear, I guess," Trixie replied, giving Aika a weird look. She'd certainly managed to pick up on what she had whispered under her breath, but didn't say anything about it otherwise.

"Indeed, it's quite good to hear," Pietro agreed. "Ah, that reminds me. I've been meaning to ask you, Aika...did your family's farm sell any of your sheep, or other farm animals, to the Bettenhausen Corporation?"

Trixie blinked rapidly at that, caught off guard by the sudden change in topic. Still, the name seemed familiar to her. "...Wait, what? The Bettenhausen… aren't those the guys who make the emergency shelters and stuff? What would they need a bunch of sheep for?"

"For the cloning experiments, of course," Pietro replied as if this were completely and utterly obvious. "The shelters the Bettenhausen Corporation builds is just a smokescreen, a means to an end to fund their true, nefarious projects. Which range from human experimentation, illegal cloning, weapons manufacturing, development of mind-altering technology...so on and so forth."

"Uhm, no, I don't think we did. My aunt and uncle were very selective about who they sold to, even if it did hurt their bottom line. Also-" Aika began to speak up before Fuka interrupted her.

"Did you say cloning and mind-altering technology?" Fuka asked, narrowing her eyes. "How long have they been doing such things?!"

"Since their very founding, I suspect. The Bettenhausen Corporation came into existence six months after the end of the infamous Hopes Peak Killing Game, from what I've researched. I don't know what their endgame is, but my investigations haven't painted a good picture of their intentions," Pietro gravely replied.

Trixie just rolled her eyes in response. "Oh, please. Do you actually believe that bullshit? Pietro is a complete and utter nutjob. You should see the Conspiracy Corkboard he keeps under his bed. Pretty sure I saw the Reptilians on that board at some point."

"Oh, please," Pietro scoffed. "There are no Reptilians. We don't even have evidence for alien life beyond our stars. You're just exaggerating. The Illuminati, however..."

"Illuminati aside, do not brush off aspects such as cloning. They are very much possible." Fuka responded gravely, no hint of amusement in her voice. "This group is playing a very dangerous game if what Pietro says is true."

"Can we please stop talking about this? It's giving me the chills." Aika spoke up. "Also we need dinner to be ready soon!"

"Quite right. We can continue this discussion another time," Pietro agreed with a curt nod. That said, he focused his attention back on the boiling pot in front of him.

Trixie side-eyed the chef a moment longer, before focusing back on her own station. Then, for a brief second, she mused about how she might be able to trick someone into eating the abomination Fuka was cooking.

She decided against such an idea, however. At the end of the day, she didn't believe in subjecting people to cruel and unusual punishments.

* * *

"Don't worry, we're almost there," Dayaveer reassured Kogo, as he helped the Charm limp her way towards the infirmary inside the temple. With Kogo's injured ankle, it had been slow going to actually get back inside the temple, let alone to the infirmary, but their goal was almost within reach now.

A minute later, Dayaveer pushed open the door to the infirmary, relieved to see that George and Asan were already inside. The duo looked over at them, taking stock of the situation.

"What happened?" George immediately questioned.

Kogo made her way to one of the infirmary beds, giving a deep sigh, relieved to finally be off her feet. "It's nothing major, I just tripped on a loose piece of tile in the courtyard. I think I rolled my ankle but it's not too bad, at least as far as my luck goes."

"Oh no! That could still be super bad though, like a muscle or ligament could have been torn!" Asan explained as he looked distressingly at the girl before turning back to the doctor.

George nodded in agreement. "Indeed. It's probably not too serious, but we still need to check it out and treat it, all the same. Asan, go ahead and get an ice pack please, and some pain killers too. I'll take a look at Kogo's ankle."

That said, George brought a chair over and sat beside Kogo. He reached over, gingerly pressing his fingers against her injured ankle. "All right, does this hurt at all, Kogo? How would you rate your pain, on a scale from one to ten?"

"Egh..." Kogo groaned as she winced at the touch. "I think it would be like a four or a five? I was still able to walk, with help at least..." Kogo explained as she shifted in her seat.

"Hmm well hopefully that is a good sign, but you never know with these kinds of injuries. Is there any swelling, George?" Asan asked as he quickly made his way beside the older man with an ice pack and pill bottle in hand.

"Mm, a little bit," George observed, eyeing the injury carefully. He took the ice pack and bottle from Asan, and first handed her the ice pack. After that, he opened up the pill bottle, shook out a few pills, and handed them over to Kogo.

"The ice pack should help reduce the swelling, and these pills will help you manage your pain," George declared. "I'd need an x-ray to tell for sure, but...it doesn't seem like your injury is as serious as it could be, so you can be thankful for that. If all goes well, it should heal up in a few days."

"That is good to hear," Dayaveer said, giving a sigh of relief. "Well, if you need any assistance in getting around until your ankle heals, I would be more than happy to serve you! While I mostly devote my services to Lady Kotomi, I'm just as willing to help out anyone else in need, should you require it."

"Oh um... thank you, Dayaeer, but you don't need to go that far," Kogo explained as she began fretting with the end of her hair braid.

"Here let me get that for you," Asan remarked as he carefully took the ice pack and pulled out a length of fabric wrap. He quickly wound it around the girl's outstretched ankle, holding the ice pack in place. "There we go, all safe and snug! We really lucked out in having a nice stocked infirmary here too, way better than my first game. Plus we have such a handsome stud of a doctor here getting injured doesn't sound like the worst thing ever!"

George flashed Asan an odd look, not entirely sure how to take his sudden, unexpected praise. Or at least, the flirtatious words contained within that praise. "Ah...thank you, Asan. We are, ah, quite lucky that this place is so well stocked. Not something you'd expect to find in a monastery, I wager, but that's likely Dios' doing."

"Well, if you're so sure..." Dayaveer replied, sounding somewhat doubtful. "Still, if you need any assistance at all, do not hesitate to ask for it!"

Asan's smile fell away after a moment as he realized just what he'd said without even having been thinking about it. He took a deep breath as he turned back to the Charm. "If you do need some help we have a few crutches if you'd like."

"That should work, I just don't want to use up all of your time, Dayaveer," Kogo explained as she sheepishly smiled at the assistant.

"I understand," Dayaveer replied as he nodded.

George, meanwhile, hummed to himself in thought. After a moment he looked to Asan and said, "Go ahead and get her some sleeping pills too, Asan. With that injury, Kogo might have trouble getting to sleep tonight otherwise. Just make sure you don't take too many at once...but, hopefully that goes without saying."

"Oh, of course, I'll have to see if I even end up needing them, but thank you," Kogo said with a nod. Once Asan had returned with the new equipment, she tucked the pills into her blazer pocket as the EMT rested the crutches beside her. "So is there anything else you want to check?"

"Mm, no, I think you're good. I don't see the need to do an x-ray: it doesn't seem like anything is broken," George shook his head. "You're free to stay here as long as you want though: whenever you feel ready to leave. It's up to you, Kogo."

"I think I'll stay here for a bit, I don't need to go testing my luck again so soon," Kogo said with a weak smile.

"Alrighty, you get comfy then, we can chat once I get back from my afternoon run! Gotta sweat off all those delicious lunchtime calories before dinner rolls around! See ya!" Asan explained as he started doing his stretches. After he was done he quickly shot out of the room in a blur of motion.

* * *

Kaiten looked over at Takeji with a wolfish grin, the High Roller glancing back down at her cards as she weighed her options. For a novice, he'd proven himself fairly competent at poker, which had her impressed. It made her all the more confident in having him as a partner in this killing game.

Finally, she turned her eyes up to Amar, who was the other main player of their game. A good game of poker was best with at least three people involved, or so Kaiten believed: so she'd roped in into joining. It hadn't taken much to convince the therapist to play a part for their intended game: he'd even suggested using the dining hall as their arena of choice, since it would be a few hours until dinner, meaning it would be empty.

Kaiten also found herself intrigued by their resident robot. He was a little hard to read given his lack of changing facial features: but she only saw that as a challenge to overcome. She was confident that sooner or later, she'd find out what made their mechanical friend tick. Everyone had a weakness, and she knew that Amar wasn't any different, even if he wasn't human.

"All right; I'm feeling lucky. I'm gonna call your bluff, Takeji!" she finally decided.

Takeji, for his part, merely raised an eyebrow. "Alright, you do that." He replied neutrally, glancing at his mediocre hand. Either way, he was just here to kill some time and humor Kaiten. He decided he might as well keep things interesting. "I'll go all in."

"I think I will too," Amar added, the robot fully aware of his unintended advantage. "It's only fair since both of you are."

Kaiten grinned again, and after that, the three of them all revealed their cards. Just as she suspected, neither Amar nor Takeji had a hand that could beat hers.

"Ha! Looks like I win again!" Kaiten crowed, taking the lion's share of chips for herself. It wasn't like they actually meant anything here, due to a lack of real money: but still, she appreciated her victory all the same.

"Indeed. Color me surprised." Takeji responded sarcastically, eyeing the cards thrown out. "I gotta say though... Amar did alright for his first time. Rather impressive really."

The robot looked away, scratching his cheek inadvertently. "Most likely just beginner's luck. It's nothing special, really."

"Heh, you shouldn't be so quick to discount yourself!" Kaiten declared. With a teasing smile she added, "Maybe with a bit of practice, you could almost be as good as me!"

"Oh, you guys playing poker?" someone else suddenly asked.

Kaiten glanced over, raising an eyebrow as she saw Zetico stride into the room. The one-eyed Professional Agent stared back at them curiously, studying each of them in turn.

"Yeah, we are," she answered. "You wanna join in?"

Zetico hummed to himself, tilting his head in consideration before he gave an almost eager nod. "Why not! Been a while since I had a good excuse to play cards. So do forgive me if I'm rusty."

"Well, Takeji and I are new to the game, so I do not think you need to worry too much," Amar added. "We're learning as we go."

Takeji leaned forward, suddenly interested. "Last time was just a warm-up. I don't like losing, even in something as pointless as a card game. I'm in for another round!"

"All right!" Kaiten cheered. She reached over, grabbing the deck of cards and shuffling them before dealing everyone a new hand and dealing Zetico in.

After that, she studied her opponents for a moment before taking a look at her own hand. Not the best she'd been dealt, but it could've been worse. Besides, she'd achieved victory before with far less.

Zetico, meanwhile, hummed to himself as he took stock of his cards. "Hmm...does anyone have any threes?"

"No. Go fish. Wait... wrong game." Takeji chuckled, shaking his head as he glanced at his once again lackluster hand.

"Hmm..." Amar frowned, also shaking his head. It was all he could do not to laugh at the royal flush he had. "What about you, Kaiten?"

"What about me?" Kaiten countered, raising an eyebrow at Amar. "You got a question there, Robocop?"

"Oh, no. Nevermind, don't mind me." He hummed. "I believe I'll go all in, if everybody else does. Just for fun."

Takeji cast a sideways glance at the robot, before chuckling. He figured he knew what Amar was up to, and honestly, he wanted to see Kaiten's reactions, even if it meant he himself would lose. "Fair enough, I'm going all-in too, what's life without a few risks, eh? Count me in."

"All in, eh?" Kaiten mused, before looking back on her hand. It wasn't great...but, still, she was more than willing to call Amar's bluff. "All right. I'll go all in too!"

"Same here!" Zetico cheered, before pushing all his chips forward. "I feel lucky about this hand! Though...hm, this ain't too interesting of a bet. Not like we're playing with real money. Maybe we should put something valuable on the line, yeah?"

"Oh?" Kaiten glanced over at him. "I already owe you a favor from our last bet. What do you want this time?"

"Hmm..." Zetico hummed to himself, before suddenly whipping out a cookie, pointing it at Kaiten for a moment as if it were a gun, before setting it onto the table. "Don't let appearances deceive you! This cookie is very dangerous...it is, in fact, a flashbang. Pretty nifty, eh? I have a few of these lying around...so if I lose this bet, the winner gets their very own flashbang! How's that sound?"

Kaiten raised an eyebrow before a devilish smile grew across her lips. "Okay, Secret Agent Man. I'm game. Hmm...well, in that case, I'll put my charm bracelet on the line."

"Now we're talking!" Takeji smirked, eyeing Amar again. "Tell ya what... I'll throw in one of my prized hunting knives." He declared, flashing a fancy looking yet dangerous knife to them all. "Pretty sweet, yeah?"

"What interesting prizes. I'm afraid I don't have anything interesting on me at the moment, but I do promise to come up with a suitable prize for the winner at a later date." Amar added neutrally, feigning innocence.

It took every bit of Takeji's willpower not to laugh. Not like Amar would probably need to come up with something to bet with later anyways.

"All right then! Looks like we've got ourselves some real and proper stakes!" Kaiten declared. She eyed her opponents for a moment, before leveling her gaze at Amar. "All right...I'll show you mine if you show me yours!"

"Ha!" Zetico snickered before revealing his own, unimpressive hand. "Don't think I'm gonna win this one...personally, I blame the potted plants. They're fiendishly clever at stacking the deck against me!"

"Right..." Takeji said slowly, glancing at Zetico oddly. "Yeah, my hand ain't much better. I figured I was probably gonna lose." He chuckled, looking at Amar again. "You're up, Skynet."

Without so much as a word, Amar laid out his royal flush for all to see. "I win."

Kaiten sighed and gazed at her own hand in dismay. She brought her hand against her chest for a moment, sighing again before she looked at Amar. "That sure is a pretty good hand, Amar. And it would win...usually."

She grinned wide and laid out her cards for all to witness: four aces and a joker, five of a kind. The only possible hand that could, in fact, beat a royal flush. "Looks like _I'm_ the one who wins, tin-man."

The table was silent for a moment before Amar simply glanced at Kaiten and sighed. "I'm disappointed. I didn't think you'd go so far as to be a sore loser and cheat, Kaiten."

Takeji smirked, leaning forward. This shit was about to get really good.

"Oh?" a dangerous glint entered Kaiten's eyes as she shifted in her seat. "Those are some big words, Mister Roboto. I'm surprised you'd even accuse me of such."

"Normally I would not care. After all, I'm really not that hyper-competitive, but I hate cheaters." Amar replied simply. "I suppose it's safe to say that I, for a lack of better words, have eyes in the back of my head. Despite that, though, it was rather obvious you were cheating. Despite you being a skilled bluffer, even I noticed the split-second disappointed look on your face when you drew your hand. Certainly not the face of someone who got a stellar hand."

Kaiten began to speak up, however, Amar raised a hand, stopping her.

"Also, there's the startlingly obvious action of you insisting on showing your cards last. We have not been playing for too terribly long, but I notice that whenever you get a winning hand, such as this one you supposedly drew, you always are quick to show your cards first and boast. So, coupling all this together, I would say it is fairly obvious you cheated. Most likely, I would say you switched the cards when you placed your hand against your chest. If, of course, I'm wrong, then I'm certain you would not object to one of us searching you?"

"Okay, fine, I cheated. So what?!" Kaiten heatedly demanded, before she abruptly paused. She made a face, and wondered why she'd just actually said that.

A moment later she scowled and abruptly stood up. "Eh, this ain't any fun anymore. Keep your damn cookie that's probably, actually a cookie and that hunting knife, for all I care."

That said, she turned around and marched out of the room, a thunderous look flashing across her face as she left.

She'd have to keep an eye out for that robot. He was too damn perceptive for his own good. But, even more than that, she couldn't help but wonder:

Why had she actually blurted out the truth there? She hadn't meant to say that at all...

* * *

"I must say, this is quite the ornate looking dojo," Naoki idly commented, as he and Yumei walked into the room. "Quite a splendorous place: it reminds me of some of the training halls I frequented in my youth."

"Oh? You must have been quite the adventurous sort as a young man," Yumei teased, gifting the elderly man a soft smile. "It makes me wonder what you would have been like in your prime: you must have been the Sakura Ogami of your generation."

Naoki gave a short laugh and shook his head. "You give me too much credit, my dear. Besides, it wasn't until I had my first child that I started bulking up like this. That's not to say I wasn't fit as a whistle in my younger years…"

He suddenly trailed off, lapsing into an uncomfortable silence as his brows furrowed. She glanced over toward him in concern, but just as quickly, Naoki brightened up.

"Regardless, we didn't come all this way just to have me regale you with tales of my sordid youth! I'm ready to spar if you are, my dear," he went on, bouncing in place as he took up a fighting stance. "I just hope you can keep up, especially in your condition."

Yumei bared her teeth as a vicious smile spread across her lips. "Even in my 'condition', I can still run circles around you, Old Man."

"Ha!" He chortled, mirth evident in his tone. "Well, let's see you put your money where your mouth is, young lady!"

With that, Yumei dropped into her own fighting stance and started to slowly, cautiously circle her opponent. Naoki mirrored her actions, and the two carefully eyed the other as they sized one another up.

Naoki was tall—not as large as Luminisa in height, granted—and his imposing frame would have frightened any normal person. Indeed, at his age, he had no right to be as well-muscled and strong as he appeared.

Yumei still wasn't entirely sure if she believed he was really over a hundred years old: he was certainly in better physical shape than any centennial she'd ever known.

Still, just because he was as big as an ape, didn't mean he'd beat her outright. She was smaller than him, and faster, and thus harder to hit. Even with her rotund belly hampering her speed, Yumei was fairly confident that she could run circles around Naoki.

Finally, Naoki took the initiative and charged at her. He swung a meaty fist at her, and Yumei deftly ducked under the blow, her hands lashing out to jab him in the side. Naoki took the hit with a grunt, but otherwise seemed unaffected: indeed, he just followed that up with another strike, which she jumped back to avoid.

Naoki gave her little time to plot out her next move, however, as he stomped right back toward her. From there, they exchanged a series of blows, each managing to land a few good hits on the other. Until...

Yumei abruptly paused, her eyes glancing toward the door as it suddenly opened. Naoki likewise dropped his fighting stance, and they both watched as Rafael strode into the dojo.

"Rafael," Naoki spoke up first, cautiously regarding the Revolutionary. "Good afternoon. What brings you by?"

The Latino boy cracked his neck as he looked around the area. "I'm just scouting out the area. After the last motive, who knows what Dios has up his sleeve. This is certainly a very strange place" He gazed at the two. "And what are you two doing?"

"We were sparring: blowing off some steam before dinner," Yumei replied, giving a simple shrug. "I thought the dojo would be the best place to do so. The training grounds outside are...too familiar for comfort."

Rafael folded his arms. "Yes, I'd imagine for you it certainly would be."

"...Quite," Yumei acknowledged, nodding her head towards him. "Well, is there anything Naoki and I can do for you, Rafael? Otherwise, I think we'll get back to our sparring."

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do wish to speak to you Yumei... Preferably alone if at all possible. I think you'd rather hear this in private." Rafael responded, slightly frowning.

Yumei eyed him a moment longer, before giving a small sigh. She nodded and turned her gaze to Naoki.

He seemed reluctant, but went along with it all the same. "All right; I'll be outside if you need me, Yumei."

That said, he looked towards Rafael one last time, before taking his leave.

Rafael's eyes followed the man as he made his leave. As soon as he had vanished from his view, his eyes landed back on the girl, narrowing.

"Alright, what's going on? Why has Dios created a world seemingly directed at you? Do you two have some kind of connection we don't know about!?"

Yumei pursed her lips and crossed her arms as she stared defiantly at Rafael. "Your guess is as good as mine, Rafael. I have no idea why Dios is focusing so much on me. I wish I knew why, but I do not."

The Revolutionary's face was unmoving.

"Whatever the case, the simple fact that this temple exists at all proves that he has a special interest in you, as does it for Takehiko and his dojo. I think even someone like _you_ can understand why I'm suspicious."

"...I suppose I can see that, yes," Yumei replied at length, her tone calm and measured despite the situation. "Nonetheless, I will continue to say that I am in the dark about why Dios is doing what they do. Regardless of your suspicions, I cannot shed any more light on the matter."

Rafael shook his head as he lit a cigar and took a puff, blowing the smoke around the temple hall.

"I shouldn't have expected any other answer from you, should I? You monks are all the same, promising enlightenment and yet not able to answer even the simplest of life's questions. No wonder the Chinese people got tired of listening to your bullshit."

_"Excuse me?"_ Yumei questioned in a heated, shocked tone. Her nostrils flared, and her hands clenched in anger as she spat out, "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

Rafael took another drag of his cigar, flicking the ashes unceremoniously to the floor.

"Look around you, you stupid puta, this temple may be in a mess now but once it was made with the finest materials and filled with golden statues of dead prophets and false gods. And did the monks pay for all of this all those centuries ago when it was built? No! It was built on the backs of the common peasant, enslaved to their landowners and deluded into submission by the Buddhist idea that wanting more in your life would deny them Nirvana. They toiled and died in slavery, all while your kind lived in luxury."

He threw his cigar to the floor, rage building in his face. "Religion truly is the opiate of the masses... When the rats in this temple fell to the guns of the people, they paid for their greed in blood!"

Yumei trembled with barely restrained anger, a furious scowl stretched across her face as she glared hatefully at Rafael. "You have _no idea_ what you are talking about! You're just spouting Communist propaganda and lies! And the _people_ weren't the ones who slaughtered my brothers! It was the soldiers of Beijing who carried out that massacre, all because they believed we were subversive dissidents! You have got some damn _nerve_ spouting that kind of hateful nonsense!"

"Communist propaganda and lies?" He spat, "If anyone here is lying it's you, Yumei Mao. I know the truth about what happened to your temple. The Chinese ambassador told me when he last visited my country. Your temple was a hotbed of subversive dissidents, just look at you! Their training created that monster inside of you that rampaged through the countryside, killing any in its wake. The CCP put your little cult down because if they hadn't, your kind would have turned the People's Republic into a theocratic nightmare!"

He looked over to his side. Standing in the room was a statue of the Buddha, made of fine jade. He breathed deeply, walking towards it. "But as long as the proletariat stand together, you false prophets will always fall. My country, the People's Republic of Cuzco suffered under a dictator before I liberated it, and while the people suffered the church's coffers grew fat with taxes and bribes. That's why when I took control I burned the priests and nuns inside of their churches so that their ashes would allow the land to grow anew! As long as the Bourgeoisie continue to exploit the workers of the world the flame Marx started will never die and I promise you, Monk, that it will purge you and your lies from this world!"

And with his final words, he pushed over the statue face-first to the floor, watching it smash into a million pieces.

Yumei's eye bore into Rafael with furious intent, while her teeth bared themselves into a snarl. A dangerous aura surrounded her, wrapping itself around her body at his maddening words. Her control was dangerously close from slipping, and after a moment, she raised a hand to strike the Revolutionary-

"_That is enough!"_

But her strike was just as suddenly blocked, as Naoki burst into the room and caught her arm. He glanced sternly at her, before leveling his gaze toward Rafael.

"I'd choose my words more carefully in the future, Rafael. You are playing with fire when you antagonize someone like that, especially a survivor of genocide like Yumei," he declared, using his full height to tower over the other man.

Rafael glared at the man, but before he could speak further, the interruption felt like a splash of cold water on his face. He blinked and rubbed his temple as if shaking something off.

"Hmm... I seem to have gotten carried away there... strange."

He looked one more time at the girl, not allowing himself to break his gaze even as he could see the dragon behind her eyes, just baying to be set free.

"This has accomplished nothing. I will get back to my investigation, this temple may have more secrets hidden within it. However, Nakoi, I will leave you with this warning. That girl is evil, she and everything she stands for. If you get close to her, you will die for it."

He made his way out of the room, leaving only a parting comment. "If you want proof of that, just remember her actions on the railway..."

Yumei eyed Rafael as he walked off, her body still shaking with her barely contained rage. Once he had left, she closed her eye and took in a harsh breath in an attempt to steady her nerves.

Naoki let go of her hand after a few seconds and looked down at her in concern. "Are you all right, Yumei? I'm sorry you had to go through that. That boy must be out of his mind..."

"...I'm fine," she lied, her eye still closed. Even though he had already left, she could hear Rafael's voice echoing in her mind. "...Let's go. I don't think I'm in the mood for any more sparring."

"_Aww, that's too bad. I was really enjoying the show, too."_

Yumei jumped and whirled around to see Dios suddenly behind her. She scowled at them, her eye narrowed as she stared daggers at her captive. Naoki, meanwhile, stepped forward and placed a hand in front of her protectively.

"Dios...just what do you want?" Naoki asked, regarding them carefully. "If you're here to torment Yumei any further, I swear—!"

"_You'll what? Kill me? We both know it won't stick, and besides...I thought those days were behind you, soldier-boy," _Dios flippantly declared.

Naoki abruptly stiffened at her side, and his eyes grew wide. Before he could say anything, however, Dios went on.

"_Relax, hombre! It's all good. I just wanted to see the new motive in action...and it's been a smashing success! I was really hoping you wouldn't step in because I was looking forward to the Dragon giving someone a good thrashing!" _They boasted, before giving a dramatic sigh. "_Alas, it wasn't meant to be."_

"...Motive?" Yumei questioned. She tilted her head, as a whirlwind of questions swirled in her mind. "What motive? What are you talking about?"

"_Well, I was gonna make a grand announcement over dinner, but why not give some spoilers?" _Dios hummed to themself and shrugged. "_Besides, I'm sure you're all starting to notice it now. In fact...the motive has been in place since the moment you arrived here."_

Dios paused, and Yumei was almost certain that beneath their mask, they bore a malicious smile.

"_You want to know the truth of the motive? Well...that's just it. That is the motive! The truth shall set you free!" _Dios waved his arm in a grand, elaborate gesture, and Yumei felt a chill run down her spine.

"_I have cast a zone of truth upon everyone in this area. Until somebody croaks and a body drops….everyone is incapable of telling a lie. Every facade that you have all built up for yourselves will now be stripped away, left bare beneath the harsh light of brutal honesty. With this, the next major step of your Rehabilitation begins."_


End file.
